Move Along
by monotony
Summary: This takes place post-afterlife, with Wesker and Umbrella having been defeated.  The survivors are headed to Alaska to start their new life.  Claire/Alice relationship established.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This is my first story, so I apologize if it's not very good. Just a heads up, there is one major OC in this story so I hope you like him.

-Reviews would be nice, but I'm not going to beg for them.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil.**

The _Arcadia_ had been sailing up the west coast for weeks, moving slowly and stopping every few days waiting to see if anyone would respond to the radio broadcast. It had been a somewhat pointless endeavour, in all these weeks no one had responded and no more survivors had been found aside from Luther who surprisingly had managed to escape the prison without infection. The _Arcadia_ was making its way back up to Alaska. Alice and Claire decided that despite their previous experiences it was still the best bet at long term safety from the undead. Chris and Luther were easily swayed, not having a better plan and once K-Mart's memories had returned she was just happy to be back with her friends.

They were nearing British Columbia when they picked up the first radio response. Luther was manning the controls when the transfer came through.

"Hello? Anyone? There are a group of people here at the Vancouver Police Station. We need help. Please, if anyone is out there, come and help us." A few minutes later the message repeated.

"Holy shit, its about damn time!" Luther yelled. "Would Claire, Alice and Chris please report to the control room!" Luther announced into the PA system and only had to wait a few minutes before the three arrived, of course K-Mart right behind them as well.

"You guys gotta listen to this!" He said excitedly before playing the transmission for them. "Isn't it great? The first signs of life in weeks!"

K-Mart appeared as excited as Luther, while Claire had a sceptical look on her face. Alice and Chris remained passive in stance.

"Can we be sure they're still there?" Claire asked.

"Isn't it worth a look?" Chris responded.

"I can go check it out." Alice offered with a shrug but Claire protested.

"Not alone you're not! We have no idea what its like there, it could be crawling with undead and that's why those people are trapped! If you think its worth checking out then I'm going with you."

"I'll go with her Claire," said Chris. "You need to stay here with the people, you are the leader remember? Trust me, Alice and I can handle it."

Claire was silent for a moment. "You know I don't like sitting here not knowing if you two are going to come back."

"We will be back" Alice said, placing a hand on the redhead's shoulder. "And if we're lucky, we won't be coming back alone. Try to be optimistic."

Claire smirked. "You? Miss doom and gloom are telling me to be optimistic?" She sighed. "I swear to God if you guys don't come back I'll go out there to find you and kill you myself." Then she left the room without another glance.

"She'll be fine." K-Mart said, still sporting a smile. "She just worries about all of us, except maybe Luther-"

"Hey!" Luther interjected.

"I don't think she really cares about what happens to him." K-Mart finished with a laugh before leaving to find Claire again.

Alice turned to Chris, "come on, lets go get ready. Luther, keep listening to that transmission to see if anything changes. Hopefully we'll be back soon." Then she and Chris left the control room, leaving Luther as alone as he was to begin with.

* * *

><p>Alice and Chris sped along the water in the dingy looking for a suitable place to go ashore.<p>

"There!" Chris shouted pointing to a nearby dock. "That'll work." He steered the dingy toward the shore and slowed down as they approached. When they reached the dock Alice jumped out and secured the line.

"How do we find the police station?" Chris asked as the two began walking, both with their guns drawn.

Alice looked around before a smirk appeared on her face. She gestured her head to the left and Chris looked over to see a tourism kiosk half way down the street. Opening the door to the small structure and making sure no undead were within, Alice entered closely followed by Chris. "Look for a map" she instructed.

"Here's one" Chris responded, spotting a stack of brochures. Picking up one off the top he unfolded the paper to see a map of the area, he scanned his eyes across the page until he found what he was looking for. "Looks like the police station is downtown, about twenty blocks from here. Great, that area is probably swarmed with undead." He shook his head.

"Then we better get a move on, don't want to keep Claire waiting or she'll kill us both."

"Not if something gets us first."

As they left the kiosk Alice spotted the first undead of the day. She motioned to Chris and he nodded and the two slowly made their way downtown avoiding as many creatures as they could, not wanting to shoot and have the sound draw out even more. When the police station was in sight they found a crowd of zombies trying to break down the front door.

"Great, there must be hundreds of them out there. How do you want to do this Alice?"

"We need a distraction." She thought for a moment before turning to Chris. "I'll take care of it, when the coast is clear go, I'll meet you inside." Then she ran off toward the hoard of undead.

"Fuck!" Chris swore "Claire will have my ass if anything happens to her."

He watched as Alice approached the crowded police station. She fired into the crowd of undead with her semi-automatic and the zombies immediately gave chase. Alice sprinted in the opposite direction, leading them away from the police station. As the crowd rounded onto the next block Chris ran to the police station and began looking for a way inside.

Not yet having a proper plan, Alice continued to run. Glancing behind her and seeing the undead still in pursuit, "shit" she cursed. Looking ahead Alice spotted a parking garage. Formulating a plan she ran toward it, and made her way to the top. She took a grenade out of her belt and watched as the zombies spilled out. Alice climbed up onto the ledge surrounding the perimeter and travelled back to the entrance where the zombies were still coming from. The parking lot now filled with undead, Alice took the pin out of the grenade and threw it at the entryway. The explosion had the desired effect, the zombies were now trapped on the roof, but so was Alice. Looking for a suitable exit strategy she saw that the building next to the garage had a fire escape.

The ledge she was perched on was out of reach for the undead but they still were clambering around trying to grab her. Taking a deep breath Alice threw herself off the building and was able to grab hold of the fire escape. Climbing down to the street she made her way back to the police station.

When she arrived Chris was outside, alone. "I take it there was no one inside?" She asked.

"No one alive. I think they starved to death, probably trapped in there for weeks." Chris shook his head. "I bagged us some more weapons, but there were no other useful supplies. Let's go."

They were nearing the water again when Alice heard something. She stopped walking and motioned for Chris to halt as well. "Do you hear that?" she asked.

"Sounds like barking." He observed. "What the hell? Maybe its more of those fucked up dogs." He said, remembering the infected beasts Wesker had considered pets. "We should keep moving." Chris began walking back toward the shore motioning for Alice to follow. Instead Alice ran in the direction of the sound. "Alice wait!" She didn't respond. "Claire's not going to like this." Chris muttered before following the brunette.

As Alice ran, the sound continued to grow louder. It was definitely barking, but there was no sign of the dog. Alice followed the sound until she found herself at the dead end of an alley, but there was still no dog. She heard Chris come up behind her. "It's a dead end." He stated.

The brunette rolled her eyes. "Obviously, but this is where it was coming from."

"But there's nothing here-" Chris' protest was interrupted by the sound of the dog barking again. Only this time Alice could tell that the sound was definitely coming from above them. She looked up and saw the head of a golden retriever sticking out a window.

"It doesn't seem to be infected." Alice observed. "Do you think there's anyone up there with it?"

"Maybe, here I'll give you a boost." Chris helped Alice up until she could reach the ladder on the fire escape and pull it down. She and Chris climbed up until the third level, where the dog still had it's head out the window. It glanced at them then pulled its head back inside the building.

Alice approached the window. "Is anyone in there?" she called before following the dog through the window. Entering the room she could tell someone had been living there, the door had been barricaded with random pieces of furniture, while empty cans and food boxes littered the floor. Something caught her eye, the dog was sitting over by a pile of blankets in the corner. On the floor was a teenage boy, he had dark hair which obviously had not been cut in sometime and he wasn't wearing any shoes. He was dressed in black sweat pants and a red hoodie. Alice turned back to Chris, "over there." She pointed to the boy and the two approached him slowly.

Alice knelt next to him, he seemed to be asleep but he didn't wake up when she shook him. She checked for a pulse and found one but it was weak. Than she checked for bites or scratch marks but found none. "He's unconscious, maybe dehydration or starvation, or both. Come on, we got to get him out of here. Look around is there anything else we should take?"

Chris made quick survey of the room. "There's nothing here, no food, no water, no weapons, just this stick." He said picking up a long tree branch that looked like a walking stick.

"Leave it, you grab the dog and take it down the fire escape then help me take the boy." Chris nodded and approached the dog slowly.

"It's ok boy, we're going to help." He said reaching out his arm. The dog seemed to be easily trusting because it came up to Chris and licked his hand before flopping onto its back, looking to have its stomach rubbed. Chris chuckled. "Come on you ham, lets go." He picked up the dog and carried it out the window. A few minutes later he returned and helped Alice carry the unconscious boy out of the room and down the fire escape.

When they made it to the street, Chris offered to carry the boy while Alice carried the bag with their restock of weapons. They made their way back to the water's edge, with the dog happily following along. Fortunately they met few undead on the way, nothing a few bullets couldn't take care of before they reached the dingy. Loading the boy and the dog, Chris and Alice set back out to the waiting _Arcadia_.


	2. Chapter 2

Claire stood on deck with binoculars pressed tightly against her eyes. She had been looking for any sign of Alice and Chris for the better part of an hour.

"They're fine you know." She heard K-Mart's voice speak behind her. "You're worrying over nothing. You know Alice can handle anything, even without her powers."

She knew the blonde was rights, she knew Alice and Chris would probably be alright but she still would have felt more comfortable had her girlfriend still possessed her special abilities. "I appreciate what you're trying to do K, but I'm obviously going to worry." Claire withdrew the binoculars to face the teen. "I know they'll be fine, I just don't want to lose anyone else." She paused "we've lost so many already."

K-Mart wrapped her arms around the redhead in a hug. "I know Claire, but it's going to be ok. They'll be back soon and I'm sure they will be bringing more people with them."

Claire smiled as K-Mart pulled back from the hug. "I wish I had your optimism kid."

K-Mart looked offended. "I'm not a kid anymore Claire."

"I know" the redhead chuckled. "But I'll always think you of as my kid sister."

K-Mart sighed before a smile crept onto her face. "I think I can live with that."

Then both of them heard the sound of a motor and turned toward the water.

"There they are!" exclaimed K-Mart. She snatched the binoculars from Claire. "They have someone with them! And a dog!"

"What?" Claire took the binoculars back to look for herself. "We're on a ship! What the fuck are we going to do with a dog?"

K-Mart tugged on the redhead's arm. "Come on Claire, lets go greet them!"

They made their way to the steps and waited for Chris and Alice to pull up.

When the dingy was close Alice threw the line to Claire who secured the boat. Alice stepped out of the boat first, followed by the dog who immediately ran up the steps and out of sight. Claire watched it run off before turning back to the other two. "One of you is going to catch that thing later." Alice just shrugged, then she helped Chris lift the boy out of the dingy.

"He's unconscious" Alice explained. "Don't know why, but I think he'll be alright once he gets some fluids."

"You found him like that?" Claire questioned.

"More like his dog found us." answered Chris.

"Let's get him below." Alice ordered and she and Chris carried him away.

"I'll go with them and make sure he's alright." K-Mart offered and followed the others back inside the ship.

Claire picked up the bag which had been left behind, "I guess things could have been worse than an unconscious kid and a dog." She said to herself before going to join the others.

* * *

><p>It was almost two whole days later before he awoke. His eyes opened but just like every other day only darkness greeted him. He sat up and realized he had been laying on a bed. Hearing some movement to the side he turned to the right. "Who are you? Where am I? What's going on?" he asked.<p>

K-Mart was sitting in the chair next to the bed. She had been there almost the entire time since he had been brought on board. "It's okay" she reassured. "My name is K-Mart, you're on board a ship, the _Arcadia_, you're safe."

"Safe? I was told no place was safe."

"Well you're safe here, there's no infection and we have plenty of supplies. Trust me." K-Mart took in his appearance. He still seemed extremely tired and she couldn't understand why he wouldn't look directly at her when they were talking. "Are you feeling ok?"

"Truthfully? I'm starving, and still a little tired. How did I get here?"

"Alice and Chris found you. They said your dog was barking and led them to you. Crazy isn't it?"

"Oh my God! Where's Shep?"

"Shep? Is that the dog's name?" K-Mart asked, clearly confused.

The boy smiled. "Yeah that's what I named him when I got him all those years ago."

"Well Shep is fine, they brought him too. I'm sure he's running around the deck somewhere." It was then that K-Mart had a realization. "What's you name?"

"I'm Seth, and you said your name was K-Mart? I take it that isn't your real name."

"It's where my friend Claire found me, a few years ago. I needed a change after everything happened, and the best way to start over was with a new name. I'd never liked the old one anyway."

"I can appreciate that" Seth smiled. "I'm sure the world looks completely different now. Might as well start over, right?"

"Yeah. Anyway, now that you're awake we can get you something to eat and you can meet the others. You can walk right?"

"Yes, I'm well enough to walk but I'll need my stick, did they bring it?"

K-Mart shook her head. "I don't think so, why do you need it?"

"So I don't run into things. I mean its cumbersome to carry but its better than having to follow along walls and such."

K-Mart was confused for another moment before it all came together. The dog, the stick, the absence of eye contact. "Oh my God, you're blind aren't you?" she gasped.

"Yes, I am. Been that way my whole life."

"How are you alive?"

"Excuse me?"

"How have you managed to stay alive all this time? Almost the whole world has died one way or another, and you can't even see but have managed to remain free of infection for years? I just can't imagine how that is possible."

"Infection? Is that what happened? I remember being at home with Shep, my parents had gone out. That night there was a ruckus out in the streets, all kinds of yelling and screaming and gunshots. My sister came into the room and said we had to get out of the house, that it wasn't safe. She drove us out of town and we kept driving until we ran out of gas, then we abandoned the car. I had no idea where we were, my sister, Rachel, said she was letting Shep lead us since she didn't know where to go but said we were in the middle of nowhere. She didn't really tell me what happened, I was still a kid back then but she said it was people, something was wrong with them and no place was safe. Eventually we came upon others trying get away and they let us travel with them for awhile."

Seth sighed, and K-Mart could tell this was difficult for him to talk about.

"One day I woke up and the others were gone, they had left us behind. Rachel never said it but I knew it was my fault, no one wants the blind guy slowing them down. It was just the three of us again, and it stayed that way until we reached Vancouver. Rachel found us a place to stay, said there would be more supplies in the city but kept us near the water in case we needed to escape. I don't know how long we stayed there, but a while ago she went out to get supplies and never came back. After that, Shep was all I had left, he kept me safe. We went out to search for her, but she was gone. That was a few months ago maybe, and then your friends came along. So I don't know if that answers your question, but somehow I'm alive."

"I'm sorry about your sister Seth" K-Mart stood from the chair and crossed the room to sit next to Seth on the bed, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze.

He wiped away a few stray tears and let out a deep breath. "It's alright, we've all lost people since it happened."

There was silence for a moment before K-Mart decided to change the subject. "You mentioned you were starving, right? Here, I got you some fresh clothes and found you some shoes." She stood from the bed and retrieved said items, handing them to Seth. "I'll let you get dressed and have a feel of the room, just yell when your ready and I'll take you to the cafeteria to get something to eat."

Seth gave the blonde a grateful smile. "Thank you K-Mart."

K-Mart left the room and only had to wait a few minutes before Seth opened the door. "K-Mart?" he called.

"Right here. Give me your hand and I'll lead you around until we can find you a new stick."

"You don't need to babysit me, K." He said defensively. "I can take care of myself."

"It's not babysitting, its helping a new friend find his way around. I'm your official tour guide. Now lets go, our first stop is the cafeteria, it's dinnertime so everyone should be there."

K-Mart led the way and the two made their way down to the cafeteria. Seth was keeping track of the halls and stairways, mapping it out in his mind so it would become more familiar. Seth heard a number of voices and knew when they had reached the caf.

"Yep, everyone is here." K-Mart informed him. "We'll go sit down and I'll get us something to eat." She dragged him past several tables where people were chatting animatedly. She came to a stop then addressed the adults at the table. "Look who's finally awake guys. This is Seth." She pulled him over to an empty chair and sat him down before continuing. "Uh, Seth is um, blind, so introduce yourselves while I get us some food." Then she was gone, leaving the adults in stunned silence.

"Way to drop a bomb K" Luther laughed breaking the tension. "Seth is it? I'm Luther West, it's good to see you up and about." Seth held out his hand for Luther to shake.

"I'm Chris Redfield and to your left is my sister Claire, she's in charge around here so any questions you have direct them to her."

"Nice to meet you Chris," Seth turned to his left and held out his hand to Claire. "Hi Claire, K-Mart's already told me about you."

She shook his hand as well. "Good things I hope. But that girl loves to talk." She laughed.

"Just that you found her and that's where the name came from, but I can tell she really looks up to you." Seth waited a moment before speaking again. "So who's sitting between Claire and Luther?"

"Nothing gets by you kid, my name is Alice."

"Well then I guess it's you and Chris I should be thanking."

Chris laughed. "Its that dog you should be thanking, he led us to you with his barking. Got to you just in time too."

"Where is Shep?" Seth asked.

"Don't worry, I've been taking good care of him." Chris replied, "he's up on the deck. When you're done eating we can go get him, since I guess you'll be needing him."

"Yeah, he's my seeing eye dog, so you won't need to worry about him, he's really well trained. He's the reason I'm still alive."

"I was just wondering about that." Claire said. "How were you able to evade the undead if you can't see?"

Suddenly K-Mart appeared out of nowhere and set a tray down in front of Seth. "Here you go Seth, I didn't know what you liked so I got some of everything and I got a lot since you said you were starving. Is there anything you're allergic to? I can get you more when you finish, just let me know, and why aren't you eating yet?"

"Slow down K," Seth laughed. "Sit down, I'm sure you did great, and there isn't anything I'm allergic to so we should be good."

K-Mart blushed but didn't say anything, just sat in the chair next to Seth and tried to ignore the smirks of the others.

While they ate K-Mart filled in Seth on what they had all been through; the desert, the helicopter ride to Alaska and being captured by Umbrella. Then Claire retold how Alice had found her and they made their way to LA and finding Chris and Luther in the prison. And finally how they had defeated Wesker and how they had been sailing up the coast looking for other survivors.

When the stories were done and everyone had finished eating and stood to leave, Seth asked "Can I get Shep now?"

"I'll take you." K-Mart immediately offered.

"I'll take him K," Chris said. "We can have some male bonding time."

"Is that okay with you Seth?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's fine. You can fill Claire in on how I'm alive, I don't really fancy telling the story again. Thanks for all your help today K-Mart, I appreciate everything. You can come see me whenever, even if I can't see you." Seth joked.

K-Mart huffed. "That's not funny Seth. But I will see you later." Then she and Claire left the room.

"Come on kid, lets go find your dog." Chris wrapped an arm around Seth's shoulders and led him out of the caf and up to the deck.

When they got outside, the cool night air struck their faces. "Shep!" Seth called out. "Here boy!" Immediately they heard barking and soon Chris saw the dog bounding toward them. Shep stopped in front of them and sat down. Seth knelt down by the dog. "Good boy Shep. You did so well, saving my life and finding us a new home, good boy." He stood back up before speaking to Chris. "So where is the ship going?"

"Alaska, Claire and Alice said it's the best chance at long term safety, there's no infection up there and it was sparsely populated to begin with so even if there is undead it shouldn't be too many."

Seth nodded. "That's a good plan." He seemed to be lost in thought for a moment so Chris waited for him to speak again. "Can you do something for me tomorrow?"

"Sure, what do you need?"

"A hair cut! I haven't had one since the end of the world, I can't imagine how terrible I must look."

"Ah, yes you are sporting a rather Jesus looking hair style. But I think Luther is the person to do it. I'll talk to him and we'll get you all cleaned up tomorrow. It looks like you'll need to start shaving too, have you done that before?"

"No, I was only 13 when this all started. What day is it? I've kind of lost track of time."

"It's June 11, 2009. So how old are you now?"

"Looks like I turned 17 a few months ago." He answered. "You know, it's been a long time since I had someone to talk to, its nice."

"I think we can all relate to that." Chris smiled. "Come on, lets get back inside. K-Mart will kill me if you catch a cold after she just nursed you back to health."

"She did?"

"Yeah, Alice and I brought you here but K-Mart sat by your bed the last two days, making sure you would be alright. It's a good thing you woke up today, she was starting to worry." Chris led them back inside and Shep walked in front of them until they reached Seth's room where the dog was already sitting in front of the door. "How does he do that?"

"I told you he was well trained. Thanks for your help Chris. See you tomorrow."

"Goodnight kid. I'm just two doors down on the right side if you need anything and Luther is just across the hall." Chris retreated to his own room, and Seth opened the door and waited for Shep to enter first before closing the door behind him.

About an hour later there was a light knocking on the door. "Come in!" Seth yelled. The door opened to reveal K-Mart who shut it behind her. "Hey K-Mart, to what do I owe this late night visit?"

K-Mart's mouth hung open. "How did you know it was me?"

Seth gave her a cocky grin. "Its true what they say about the senses, when you lose one the others are enhanced. You have a distinctive sound to the way you walk, I could tell it was you in the hall by the sound of your steps. But I knew for sure when you came in the room. Your scent is a dead giveaway, especially after spending so much time with you it was easy to recognize."

"What do I smell like?" She asked and Seth could pick up the nervousness in her tone.

He chuckled lightly. "Don't worry, it's not a bad thing. Your sent is hard to describe so I'm not even going to try."

"You're no fun" she pouted. "Well I brought you something. Its just a temporary replacement, we can find you a better one when we get to Alaska but it's the best I could do for now."

"What is it?" Seth asked.

"What? Can't you smell it? Or hear the way its moving?" K-Mart scoffed.

"Maybe I can and I'm just humouring you?" Seth replied but after a moment shook his head. "I'm serious, I don't know what it is."

"Hold out your hand." she instructed and Seth obeyed. K-Mart placed a long wooden pole in his hand. "It's the handle off a spare broom. I don't know if that will work but its only temporary–"

"It's great, thank you K." Seth smiled and reached out put a hand on K-Mart's shoulder. "Maybe tomorrow you could find me some sunglasses? I've always wanted to be a walking stereotype."

"No problem, I've got some extras in my room if you really want them."

"That'd be great. I use to wear some all the time, but I lost the pair I had a long time ago. I know some people aren't cool with the lack of eye contact, the shades make them more comfortable. "

"I don't mind." K-Mart whispered.

"Thanks, that means a lot to me." A moment of silence passed between them. "So you filled in Claire?"

The blonde briefly recounted her conversation with the redhead. "She thinks its amazing you were able to stay alive as long as you did." She sighed, "it's getting late, you need your sleep. Do you need me to come by in the morning for breakfast?"

"Nope, now that I've got a stick and Shep I will be self sufficient, thanks K. I've got plans with Chris and Luther tomorrow, but can we hang out later?"

"Of course, most of the people here are cranky adults, it will be great to have someone my own age to spend time with." K-Mart smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow Seth, goodnight."

"Goodnight K-Mart." Seth replied, and knew she left when he heard the door open and close again.

* * *

><p>Alice opened the door to the control room and was unsurprised to find Claire there all by herself. When the redhead saw Alice she smiled. "Hey, what are you doing here?"<p>

Alice shrugged, "not tired. I never slept much after Raccoon City and still can't get back in the habit." She stood next to Claire and the two women were silent as they gazed out the window into the dark night. "So K-Mart told you about Seth?"

"Yeah, that kid is lucky to be alive. I never would have thought it would be possible for someone like that to get by, especially alone. It's kind of amazing." She continued to give Alice the abridged version of what K-Mart had told her.

Alice shook her head. "Its good that we got to him when we did. I don't think he would have lasted much longer. We were too late for the people at the police station but I'm glad we didn't come back empty handed."

Claire frowned. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that. Chris told me what you did. You had the undead chase you? What were you thinking? You could have been killed! I need you Alice, I can't have you risking your life so recklessly." She scolded.

Alice put her hands up in defence. "I had it under control. Besides, you know Chris and I would never leave you here to run this place with only Luther and K-Mart for help." She joked.

"Ugh! You're impossible! But at least you have your priorities in order. K-Mart is not a problem, but the last thing Luther needs is an authority complex to boost his ego."

Alice laughed. "Speaking of K, how smitten is she with Seth, eh?"

Claire huffed in frustration. "Oh my god! There's going to be no living with her now. Thanks Alice. We don't have enough problems so you bring back a cute teenage boy for her to lose her mind over. You know how hard it was to get the story out of her because she kept stopping to comment on how cute he looked when he was talking to her, or how nice he is? It was bad enough in the desert with that crush she had on Carlos, but this is already a hundred times worse. I finally just sent her to bed an hour ago because I couldn't stand it anymore!"

Alice stood there with a smirk on her face, she found it hilarious when the redhead overreacted. "You sent her to bed?" She mused. "That's funny, because I passed her on my way up here, she was carrying a broomstick. What do you think that's about?"

"Its probably for Seth. Do you think he likes her?" asked Claire, but Alice only shrugged in response. "If he knows what's good for him, he won't touch her."

"Aren't you over reacting a little, Claire? K-Mart is seventeen years old, she's missed out on all the fun of being a teenager. I don't mean to sound cliche but don't you remember what it's like to be her age?"

"No." Claire replied without missing a beat.

"Me neither, but don't be too hard on them. We've all been through a lot and Seth's life isn't going to get any easier. If he likes her, let K have this piece of happiness. Isn't that what you want for her?"

Claire continued to stand there with her arms crossed stubbornly before sighing and nodding her head. "Of course I want her to be happy. Maybe its just a little crush and she'll get over it?" She tried to rationalize, not at all liking the idea of the girl she thought of as a little sister being all grown up.

"Claire," Alice warned.

"All right, I won't prevent her from spending time with him. It's just that when I found her she was a scared little girl, and now she's all grown up. What if she doesn't need me anymore Alice?"

Alice pulled Claire into a hug. "K will always need you," she whispered. "You're her big sister. And I still need you, everyday. So stop worrying so much." Then she pulled back enough to lay a gentle kiss on Claire's lips.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil**

**AN:** This story will mostly move back and forth between Alice/Claire, and K-Mart/Seth. The last chapter as well as this one feature Seth a lot, just so I can get him situated within the other characters, but rest assured there will be plenty of Alice and Claire in this story.

**AN2:** Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate all the reviews. And to the person who asked if I was Canadian, you caught me.

**AN3:** Updates should be fairly regular, I have the story written but I might want to make changes based on feedback.

* * *

><p>The next day Alice decided that she wanted to talk to their new arrival. Actually it had been Claire's idea, the redhead had spent the early morning pestering her about it until Alice had finally caved in and agreed. It didn't take a genius to figure out what Claire had in mind. Alice knew she was the most intimidating person around, and the redhead wanted her to scare the boy. Alice thought the whole thing was kind of silly, it wasn't like she could just glare at him until he ran away, but if Claire wanted her to talk to him, she would.<p>

As she stood in the hallway outside his room deciding how to approach the situation she heard the sound of a door and looked up to see the teen and his dog leave his room and heading her way. She watched in silence as he walked towards her and saw his eyebrows furrow as he got closer. However, his confusion only lasted for a moment.

"Good morning Alice." Seth greeted, offering a small wave.

"I'm impressed. You know the others are amazed that you managed to stay alive this long, but I'm not that surprised. You're a smart kid and you have an even smarter dog." Alice mused pushing herself away from the wall where she had been leaning and the pair began to walk.

"Er, thanks I guess. Uh, I was actually hoping to run into you at some point so we could talk. Last night when I heard what you've all been through, I think it's amazing how you all are alive." He hesitated for a minute before continuing. "And I think you have more to do with it then they let on. So I was wondering, what's your story?" Alice didn't answer right away so he tacked on: "Unless you don't want to talk about it."

Alice was thoughtful for a moment as the pair walked. This would be the perfect moment to put the fear of God in the teen, all she had to do was reveal the extent of her involvement with the virus and the powers she use to possess. But if she was honest with herself Alice was tired of being the one people feared, and she was tired of pushing people away. She had been more than happy to let Claire take on the leadership role on the ship, preferring to remain in the background and shroud herself in mystery, not letting the others on board learn about her past. Giving the teen a sideways glance and watching him walk with the broomstick moving back and forth before him, Alice realized he wasn't like everyone else. The boy had obviously been through a lot, even before the outbreak of the virus and she figured if anyone could even begin to understand what she'd been through, it would be Seth.

Alice took a deep breath. "I don't mind, as long as you don't spread it around," she began. "I don't need the whole ship knowing the sorts of things I use to be able to do." When Seth nodded his agreement she began the story.

Alice told Seth about the hive while they made their way down to breakfast. And as they ate she recounted the basics of what had happened in Raccoon City and meeting Claire and K-Mart in the Nevada desert, while mostly glossing over the powers she use to possess. She also didn't reveal the extent of her relationship with the redhead, opting to make the story as impersonal as possible. And as she rehashed her adventures to the teen she was almost able to convince herself that all those terrible things had really happened to someone else.

Seth sat in a stunned silence taking it all in when she had finished. "You've been busy." He said slowly once he had found his voice. "And you don't have the powers any more? How are you adjusting?" He asked, intrigued.

"Well I've had to be more careful, since I won't heal from any injury anymore. But it's nice to be normal again, or as normal as I can be considering I have a massive injection of the t-virus in my system."

Seth nodded slowly. "I guess it would be like if I woke up one morning and could see, it would be completely overwhelming." He mused.

"Don't you wish you could see?" Alice asked, surprised. The entire time she'd had the powers all she'd wanted was to be normal again, so she couldn't understand why the teen didn't want to be like everyone else.

"I've never been able to see, so it's not like I miss it. This is my life, and I'm comfortable with it. I guess being able to see would be nice, but I don't need it." He thought for a moment, scratching his head. "I'm wondering though, why did you tell me all this, if you don't want everyone to know?"

Alice smiled. "People don't generally like having me around once they find out I'm infected, I think you probably can appreciate that more than anyone else on this ship." Seth nodded and told her about the time he and his sister had been abandoned because of his sight.

"Besides, K-Mart seems to trust you and that's good enough for me. If she's going to keep you around you might as well know the truth." The brunette added as an afterthought when she saw the blonde walking in their direction.

"Speak of the devil." Seth said, hearing the approaching footsteps, just behind him. "Good morning K-Mart."

"Hey Seth, Alice." K-Mart greeted, sitting next to the other teenager. "I still think it's weird how you can do that, it's like having another Alice around. You can't sneak up on anyone around here!" she huffed, but Alice could see it was all for show, though she thought K-Mart was wasting her time since Seth couldn't see and she had never been one to put up with the blonde's dramatic tendencies.

"Sorry, K. I'll try not to be so observant." Seth teased, while setting what was left of his tray on the floor for Shep to eat.

"Can he have that?" K-Mart asked.

"We've been sharing food the last four years, no reason to stop now." Seth responded with a shrug.

"Here, I brought these for you." K-Mart slid a pair of sunglasses into Seth's hands. He felt them for a moment before putting them on. "How do I look? Badass?"

"Very." Answered Alice. "I'm always amazed at the stuff you can find K, you would have been a great scrounger in prison."

"Thanks" K-Mart beamed before turning back to Seth. "Seth, Chris said for you to come by his room when you were done, but he didn't say why. What's going on?"

"If he didn't tell you then I'm going to leave it as a surprise." Seth replied, standing up from the table. "Thanks for the shades K, see you later Alice. Come on Shep, we're going to see Chris." The dog barked once before walking off, and Seth followed him out the room, not hitting a single table or chair on his way.

Alice watched him until he was out of the room before turning her attention to K-Mart and the two easily fell into conversation.

* * *

><p>Shep stopped in front of Chris' closed door and barked. The door opened to reveal Luther, "hey boy," he turned his head and saw Seth approaching. "Seth, my man. How's it going this morning?"<p>

"Good, so you're going to help me out?"

"Yep, come on inside." He stepped out of the doorway to let the teenager and dog enter the room. Chris was sitting on his bed reading a book and Shep dropped at his feet and lay on his back for Chris to scratch his belly.

"Hey Seth," Chris greeted before setting the book down and turning his attention to Shep, running a hand over the rough fur as the dog rolled back and forth.

"You ready for a Luther West original?" Luther asked.

"Yes please, I need to get rid of this nest on my head." Seth ran his fingers through his hair, easily getting caught in the tangles. "Just make it manageable, you know, not too short or anything."

"I can do that, here sit down in this chair." He helped Seth get settled then covered him with a towel. Seth took off the sunglasses and pocketed them. "Close your eyes, just in case you know. No need to make them any worse." Seth laughed but followed the suggestion. Luther wet his hair and a few minutes later Seth heard the sound of scissors cutting his thick mane.

After twenty minutes or so Luther stepped back to admire his work, using the comb to put a few loose hairs in place. "What do you think Chris? Some of my best work I think."

"I think you're right Luther, considering the massive number of haircuts you've done." He replied sarcastically. "It looks great Seth, is it short enough for you?"

Seth felt around his head. "Yeah, it feels a million times better. Thanks Luther."

Luther smiled. "No problem, K-Mart's going to love it."

"What?" Seth sputtered, a horrified expression on his face. "That was not the reason I asked you to cut my hair."

"Come on man, you know that girl is sweet on you." Luther chuckled as he cleaned up the mess of hair on the floor.

Seth ran a hand through his newly cropped hair, thinking back on his encounters with the blonde the last two days. "I thought she was just being nice, are you sure it's more than that?" He hadn't thought anything of her kindness towards him since he'd been brought on board, and thought maybe Luther was just having some fun at his expense.

"Trust me, I know women." Luther boasted, Chris scoffed but didn't say anything. "And she's got it bad. One look at you and she was smitten. Why else would she sit at your bedside for two whole days?"

"To make sure I didn't die?" Seth answered sarcastically. "She's just making sure I'm getting along, I really don't think it's anything more than that."

Chris decided to speak up. "He's right Seth, about the K-Mart thing. I don't know about the other stuff, I haven't seen any women making late night visits to his room."

"Well you should have known me before the end of the world. The ladies loved Luther." His voice trailed off and his eyes glazed over, thinking of days long past before coming back to the present. "So, what's the deal Seth, do you like K?"

"I just met her yesterday, and its not like I can claim love at first sight or anything!" He protested. "Besides, even if she does like me, and I'm still not certain she does, it will pass. No one wants to be with a blind guy, there are things I won't be able to do for her. She's been really nice to me and deserves more than I would be able to give her."

"So you do like her." Luther smirked. "Come on Seth, there aren't many chances left for love when the world has ended."

"Well maybe that's the only reason she's hanging around with me. I mean, how many other teenagers are on the ship?"

"More than you think. There's a handful of guys here around K-Mart's age and she's never shown any interest in any of them, not until we brought you on board." Chris said. "And finding out you were blind hasn't scared her away or anything. Did you know she was staring at you all through dinner last night?" Seth shook his head. "Face it Seth, she's got a major crush on you."

The teenager sighed, a frown working its way onto his face. "Let's say you two are right and K-Mart likes me, it's not as if we could just be together."

"I don't see any problem at all." Luther chimed in. "If you like her and she likes you, what's standing in the way?"

"Claire." Was all Seth said, and Chris nodded. "She'd kill me if I tried anything with K-Mart."

Luther was still confused, "I still don't see what the problem is, what does Claire have to do with any of this?"

"She thinks of K-Mart as her little sister. She's the one Seth will have to win over before he can be with K," said Chris. "Of course, that's only if you want to have a relationship with K-Mart." He addressed the teen.

Seth was quiet for a while, thinking everything over. "I haven't been around others in a long time, I think I want to try having friends first before complicating my life with a girlfriend."

"I think that's smart." Chris responded, "and if you decide you like K, you'll have some time to think about what to do about Claire. I could always talk to her if you want?" He offered, knowing perfectly well what the wrath of Claire Redfield could do to a person.

But Seth shook his head. "If it comes to that, I'll figure something out. I don't think it would speak well of me, if I had you ask her for permission, you know? But I don't know if it is even a possibility right now, I'm still not certain K-Mart feels anything more than friendship. And right now, a friend is really all I want."

Luther looked sceptical, he was fairly certain those two kids were going to end up together one way or another and didn't see the reason in putting off the inevitable. However Chris spoke up before he could say anything, effectively ending the conversation.

"You're a good kid, Seth." Chris turned to Luther, "so now that the hair cut is done let's clean up his face. Seth's never shaved before, so it's time for a lesson."

* * *

><p>"I'm bored." K-Mart whined as she sat in the control room with Claire. It was sort of a daily ritual with the pair, one would seek out the other claiming boredom and they would complain until a significant amount of time had past or they found something to do. It was how they bonded, both were feeling restless from the monotony of life on the ship and couldn't wait until they reached Alaska.<p>

"Than go find something to do." The redhead offered unhelpfully, her eyes focussed out the window, scanning the distant shoreline. She wasn't looking for anything in particular but it was comforting to not just stand around doing nothing when it was her turn to watch the controls.

"Like what? We're stuck on a ship! There's nothing to do." K-Mart knew she was being over dramatic, but annoying Claire had become one of her favourite pastimes while in the desert and she'd been only too happy to take it up again now that they were back together. She knew the redhead didn't really mind, otherwise she wouldn't be able to get away with being so annoying on purpose.

"I could find something for you to do if you really want. I'm sure the kitchen floor could use a good mopping, and the tables in the cafeteria need to be wiped down now that breakfast is over." Claire suggested with an evil smirk on her face.

However, K-Mart was not at all threatened. "I already did all of that." The blonde waved dismissively, trying not to burst out laughing as the smug look was wiped off the redhead's face. Claire always made the same suggestions and eventually K-Mart had learned it was better to get the chores out of the way and force the redhead to be more creative in her thinking.

Claire was quick to recover, knowing she had an ace up her sleeve. "How much reading have you finished this week K?" She asked calmly.

The blonde hesitated then muttered something the redhead couldn't hear.

"What was that? I didn't quite catch it." Claire teased, knowing she had K-Mart right where she wanted her.

"I said I haven't read at all this week."

Claire raised a questioning eyebrow. "Why not, you had yourself cooped up for two days while that kid was asleep, plenty of time to catch up on your reading."

"His name is Seth, and I was too concerned about whether or not he would wake up to think about reading." K-Mart replied indignantly, crossing her arms and her eyes narrowing.

"Well, now that he's awake and doing fine, I guess you can get back to your reading."

"I don't want to." The teen huffed.

"Why not? You said you were bored and I just gave you something to do. K, you know how important it is to me that you get an education. I don't care if it is the end of the world." Claire stared at the teen until K-Mart finally relented.

"Fine," she stood up. "If you need me, I'll be in the common room, reading. Happy now?"

"Very." Claire stated, but got no response. She watched with smug satisfaction as the blonde stormed out of the room. Claire was quite pleased with herself, getting the blonde to do anything could be quite a task sometimes but she enjoyed the challenge. She wasn't exactly pleased to find herself alone in the control room again, but it really was important to her that K-Mart get some sort of education now that they had something akin to a stable living environment. Turning back to the window and letting her gaze drift outside, she spotted someone walking along the deck. Making a decision she checked the controls of the ship, then left the room.

* * *

><p>After the haircut and learning how to shave, Seth took Shep up to the deck so the dog could get some exercise. Seth had also been craving more fresh air since being outside the night before. It hadn't been safe to spend too much time outside when he'd been on his own since he couldn't see approaching danger so it was liberating to be outside and not have to worry. He stood behind a railing, facing the sea and could feel the ship slowly moving through the water.<p>

"Nice haircut kid," Claire's voice sounded behind him.

"Thanks, it's a Luther West original."

Claire snorted. "Is that what he's calling it? Seriously though, it looks good. Way better than the nest you had yesterday."

Smiling, Seth responded. "I didn't really trust myself to cut it before so I just let it grow, and it was like having an extra pet." Claire moved to stand next to him at the railing, and they were quiet for a moment, each feeling the uncomfortable silence. "What colour is your hair?" Seth questioned, breaking the tension.

Claire thought it was a silly question for him to be asking but answered anyway. "Red," she replied running her fingers through it. "Does it matter? I mean, you've never seen colours before right?"

"No, but I use to be able to find patterns in people, personality traits you know? About people with certain hair colours."

"You mean like dumb blondes?" She asked but saw Seth shake his head.

"That's a stereotype. I mean things like...redheads always seem to be the most passionate, and brunettes are the most serious, but often blondes seem to be the most optimistic, stuff like that you know? It's not always right, just a generalization. It use to be one of my favourite games when I met new people, trying to figure out what colour of hair they had."

Claire didn't understand how that could be anything constituting fun but didn't want to fall back into the uncomfortable silence. "Did K-Mart tell you she's blonde?" Claire asked as she absently picked at a hangnail.

"No, but I suspected, K-Mart is very...bubbly." He almost seemed afraid to say the wrong thing, and Claire enjoyed watching him squirm. "And Alice is a brunette right?"

"Yeah, she is now, but she was sort of blonde when I first met her." She replied and Seth nodded but she could tell he didn't really understand. "So how are you adjusting to life here." The redhead was tired of talking about hair colour and opted to change topics.

The confusion on Seth's face was replaced by a small smile. "Its great, thank you for taking me in."

"You don't need to thank me, I wasn't the one who found you."

"No, but I've had experience with others deciding it's not worth it to have to take care of a blind kid. And this is your ship and you have to act in the best interest of everyone on board."

"From what I've seen and heard, you can take pretty good care of yourself. And no one should have to face the world alone." Claire said, thinking to all those months she was alone in the Alaskan wilderness and how lost and scared she had been when Alice had finally found her. "I'm just sorry you were alone for so long."

He shrugged. "It's alright, I'm not alone anymore and I'm grateful. Everyone's been really nice and helpful, you're doing a good thing here Claire." A moment passed, "and you've done a really good job with K-Mart. I haven't had a friend in years and it feels really nice. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to have people care about you."

It was in the redhead's nature to be suspicious and the whole reason she had come outside to speak to Seth was because she didn't want to like him. She told herself she was doing this for K-Mart, and it was partially true, she only wanted the best for her surrogate little sister. But she could only see sincerity coming from the teen, and she found it rather frustrating. "Thanks," she replied slowly. "I'm glad K has found a friend her own age" she emphasized the word friend and Seth easily caught it. "I never wanted her to have to see the kinds of things we've had to deal with. She grew up too fast, but I think you know what that's like."

"I do," Seth nodded.

Claire shook her head back and forth, as if it would somehow remove the sentimental emotions that always seemed to appear when talking about someone she cared about. Deciding this was enough of a heart to heart for one day, she started backing up towards the door. "Come on, if you're done up here let's go show you-know-who your new haircut, I can't wait to hear the squeals." Claire said sarcastically as she and Seth headed back inside, Shep following behind.

* * *

><p>"Ahhh!" K-Mart screeched as Claire and Seth approached her in the common room. "Seth your hair! It looks amazing! Who cut it? You look like a real person now!" She exclaimed excitedly. Claire just shook her head then muttered something about going to find Alice before walking away.<p>

"Luther cut it for me. He, Chris and I had some male bonding or whatever it's called." Seth answered.

"Can I touch it?" She asked excitedly then ran her hands through it when Seth nodded. "This is much better." She commented. "Here, take a seat on the couch." She pulled him over and they sat down together.

"What were you doing?" Seth asked.

"Reading, unfortunately all this ship has is research and encyclopedia so Claire's making me work my way through the alphabet as a form of education. Currently I'm on the letter D."

"I miss reading" Seth sighed. "It's been a long time."

"You read brail?" K-Mart asked and he nodded. "Maybe we'll find something in Alaska." She said optimistically.

Seth chuckled. "Yeah, cause I'm sure there were lots of blind people living in Alaska."

"I could read to you if you wanted. I mean Claire will probably end up insisting on it, she said just because the world ended doesn't mean we shouldn't know how it use to work."

"I would like that, but only if you want to K."

"Don't be silly, of course I want to. It's boring reading by myself and I love to talk, it's a win-win situation!" Seth laughed and the blonde joined in for a second before turning serious. "You be quiet now, we're starting. We'll work through the alphabet then I'll go over A, B, and C for you when we're done." She opened the encyclopedia and began to read, Seth sitting there quietly, soaking up every word.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil**

**AN:** This chapter is pretty short, sorry. The next one will be longer.

* * *

><p>It was another few weeks before the <em>Arcadia<em> closed in on the coast of Alaska. Alice, Claire, Chris, and Luther were in the control room planning out what they would do now that they had reached their destination.

"It looks like there is a small town here" Chris said indicating the map in front of them on the table. "It's the closest settlement to where we are, do you want to try there first and if its not suitable work our way inland?" He addressed the group and Claire exchanged a glance with Alice, a silent conversation passing between them, before nodding in agreement.

"Chris, take a small group ashore and scout the area out. See what's there, if it looks habitable, and what kind of supplies we're looking at. Remember it's got to be big enough for all of us to live without tripping over each other, but secluded enough that we can spot danger coming our way." Claire instructed and her brother nodded.

He turned to Luther. "You coming with?"

"Yeah, how many should we take?"

"Three more should be good." Chris replied. "I have a couple of guys in mind. You grab Seth and I'll get the others, then we can go." Luther nodded and the two stood up from the table.

Claire was also on her feet immediately. "Wait a second, Seth can't go!" She could not believe what she was hearing. Claire gave her brother a look of complete disbelief, he had always been the sensible, reasonable one when they were growing up but right now she didn't know what he was thinking.

"Why shouldn't he be able to go?" asked Luther. "He's not a child."

"Yes he is!" Claire stated adamantly. "Do you think this is the sort of mission I would let K-Mart go on? We don't know what's out there, and you two want to send him out into potential danger. He's too young for this."

"Is that the only reason you're opposed to this?" Chris asked calmly.

Claire stared at her brother for a full minute and the room was deathly quiet until she spoke. "Of course that isn't the only reason. He's blind, who's going to watch his back? How is he suppose to scout out anything?"

Chris shook his head. "I'm glad he wasn't here to hear you say that. You can't emasculate him like that Claire. Just by being alive Seth has proven he can take care of himself. He needs the stick to get around, he needs K-Mart to read to him, let him do this for us. I promise you, he's an invaluable asset."

Claire was still not convinced and she didn't like how calm her brother was being even though they were technically arguing. "I don't like it Chris, you know if I had it my way no one would have to go but we need a new home." The redhead knew her brother wasn't as stubborn as she was and if she continued to push it Chris would eventually relent, but she trusted Chris and he seemed confident about the teen's capabilities.

Claire was silent for a long time. "If he wants to go with you, I'll allow it." She sighed. "But if something happens to him, I'm not the one who will have to explain things to K-Mart." She warned but Chris didn't respond, he and Luther just stood and left the room.

When they were gone Claire turned to Alice who had been silently standing by the window throughout the conversation.

"What's up with you? You're being quieter than normal." Claire observed. "Don't you have an opinion on the Seth thing?"

Alice wandered over to stand closer to the redhead. "I didn't want to get in the middle of a Redfield sibling dispute."

"That means you agree with Chris."

"Not entirely," Alice replied vaguely, picking up on of Claire's hands and absently tracing along the fingers. "And I don't think you were entirely wrong either."

"Well that clears everything up," Claire responded with amused sarcasm. She found it difficult to be annoyed with Alice, especially when the brunette was touching her, it didn't matter in what capacity. Alice had never been as vocal about her feelings in their relationship and Claire knew that these little touches were her way of conveying affection. "So what do you think about it?"

"I don't think we should treat him differently because he can't see, but I agree with you that we shouldn't allow him more freedom than we give K-Mart." She continued to trace along Claire's hand as she spoke, her eyes locked on the redhead. "He's too young and inexperienced for this mission, but if Chris and Luther are willing to look out for him," she shrugged "then that's one less thing for us to worry about."

"Well, what about you? Aren't you always looking for an excuse to do something dangerous, why didn't you go with them?" Claire had expected the brunette to volunteer for the mission and had been surprised when Alice had hung back.

"Well, you see I have this girlfriend, you would like her, she's this total bad ass." Alice smirked and the redhead gave her a playful shove. "Anyway, the last time I did something dangerous she spent the whole time pacing and worrying." Alice heard Claire muttering something that sounded like curse words and K-Mart's name under her breath. "And when she found out I had done something a little reckless she wasn't too pleased, so this time I decided to give her an emotional break."

"That's very generous of you, she must be some awesome girlfriend." Claire mused.

The brunette offered a nonchalant shrug. "Yeah, she's ok." When Claire narrowed her eyes, Alice squeezed the hand she was holding a little tighter. "Alright, I'll admit it, she is probably the most amazing woman I have ever met and I'm very lucky that she puts up with my reckless behaviour and obsession with danger."

"Anything else you want to add?"

"Oh yeah, and she's totally hot too."

"That's better," Claire said then proceeded to erase the distance between her and Alice. Wrapping her arms around the brunette's neck and feeling Alice's hands sliding down her back they held each other tightly as their lips met.

Years ago when the world had started going to hell with the outbreak of the virus, Claire had thought she would never be able to feel safe ever again. And she was even more certain that if she had never met Alice it would have been true. Claire knew she was a strong person, more than capable of taking care of herself but as she stood in the control room of a ship parked next to the coast of Alaska, kissing Alice, she revelled in the feeling of having another person make her feel more safe and loved than she would have ever thought possible.

And kissing Alice was something Claire knew she would never grow tired of, Alice was unpredictable and Claire was never sure of what to expect from the brunette. As she tangled her fingers through dark hair she felt Alice's tongue insistently asking for entrance, which she was only too happy to oblige. Claire was also one to never be outdone, and she eagerly returned the brunette's passion, and immediately grew frustrated when Alice suddenly ended the kiss. About to verbally protest, Claire found herself cut off by the lustful gaze in Alice's eyes.

"What do you say we go back to our room to celebrate our successful reaching of the Alaskan coast?" The brunette asked, offering a cocky grin.

Claire grinned back, "I think this was the real reason you decided to stay behind."

Alice just shrugged, "can you blame me?"

"No, I am super hot after all." Claire replied and pulled Alice along behind her as they left the room.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN:** I just want to clear a few things up for anyone sitting on the fence about reading this story.

1) This is a long story, and that's the reason why I'm using the other characters so much and have added Seth. I like the idea of exploring the relationships between the characters and not just the romantic ones, so expect them to be interacting a lot. Not every chapter is going to be an Alice/Claire love fest, but they are the overlaying main pair, and most of the interactions with the other characters will be through them, with the exception of K-Mart/Seth.

2) This story will be pretty fluffy, there will be some action and angst to move the plot along, but nothing too awful.

3) I have received one complaint about the labelling of the story, if anyone else feels this story shouldn't be labelled Alice/Claire shoot me a review to let me know, but for now I'm going to leave it the way it is.

**AN2:** I already know one person isn't going to like this chapter, but I hope everyone else enjoys it.

* * *

><p>There was a knock on Seth's door. "Come in Luther!" He called out, as he and K-Mart were currently in the middle of a thumb war.<p>

The door opened and Luther's head popped in. "You know, you could at least pretend to be surprised sometimes."

"Not with that strut you have I can't." Seth laughed while pinning K-Mart's thumb down. "What's up?"

"Sorry K, I got to borrow your boy." K-Mart flushed, but of course Seth couldn't see it.

"Where are we going Luther?" He asked excitedly, dropping K-Mart's hand and giving Luther his full attention.

"Ashore!" he responded excitedly. "We've reached the coast of Alaska. Chris and I are taking a scouting party out to investigate a town, see if its good enough to be our new home. You wanna come?"

"Fuck yes! I don't know about everyone else but I'm already getting sick of this boat!" Seth stood up from the bed. "I'll be back in awhile K, then you can get your thumb war revenge."

"Wait," she protested, getting off the bed as well. "Is that a good idea, for you to go?" Her face was a mask of concern.

Seth turned to K-Mart, "I'll be fine. I want to go with them. I need to feel useful, so let me go and see if I can find you a new home. Any requests?" He ended with a grin which the blonde found she could not resist.

K-Mart's face broke into a smile. "I've always wanted a house with a big front porch." She informed him before adding, "But be careful Seth."

"I will, I promise. But just incase you should give me a hug for good luck." He smirked.

K-Mart pretended to look annoyed for Luther's benefit but wrapped her arms around Seth and squeezed him tightly. "I'll see you later."

"And I won't." He joked, before following Luther out of the room.

* * *

><p>The scouting party sped toward the shore in the dingy looking for a suitable place to go ashore. "There!" Luther shouted to Chris. "It's a beach, we should go ashore there." He pointed in the direction of a small beach located between two large sets of rocks. Chris steered the boat to shore and when they close enough Shep jumped out of the boat and ran through the water to land. Luther jumped out of the boat when Chris cut the engine to pull the boat onto the beach. The others climbed out and the party set out to find the settlement.<p>

Shep was leading the group, closely followed by Chris. The two other men, Mark and Johnson were in the middle, while Luther and Seth brought up the rear. "I see it!" Chris yelled after ten minutes of walking.

The group stopped on the edge of the town to survey the area. "What does it look like?" Seth asked Luther.

Luther scanned the layout before them. Quaint was how he would describe it if he could ever picture himself using such a word. "Deserted, abandoned cars in the street, looks like there's dozens of houses , and a couple of larger buildings like a school, a store, and a community centre. I also see a woods off in the distance, so its not too close." He looked at the teen and found a confused look on his face. "What are you thinking, kid?"

"There's no people?" Seth asked.

"Doesn't look that way."

"Well, if there's no infection here then shouldn't there be people?" Seth wondered aloud.

"That's a fair question." Chris replied. "I think we should look around." He immediately took charge, passing out instructions. "Luther you go look at the school, Mark and Johnson you two go check out the community centre and the store. I'll go make sure the houses are clear. Seth, take the dog and walk the streets, make sure there's no one else here." They all nodded in understanding and went their separate ways.

Luther entered the school, it was pretty small, only three classrooms, a lunch room and some offices and storage closets. He went from room to room with his gun drawn but didn't see anything. He thought it was a nice change of pace to enter a building and not find it ransacked or overrun with the undead. When he was sure it was clear he went back outside to help Chris go through each house.

He spotted Chris exiting a house and met him on the lawn out front. "The school is clear, it's in pretty good shape. I'll go start the houses on the next block." He said then waved off, going down the street while Chris moved on to the next house.

It was hours before they cleared all the houses. As they'd suspected no one was in the town, not even any undead but there was no explanation for why the people had left. The four men met outside the community centre discussing their findings.

"Maybe Umbrella picked them up?" Luther offered when they couldn't think of a reasonable solution for the town's vacancy. "Or they thought it wasn't safe here and moved out."

"Well it looks like the place has been empty for years. And since it's well intact I think it's probably pretty safe here." Chris said. "And there was still lots of food at the store?" He asked Mark and Johnson, to which both nodded. "Good, I think this is a good enough place to start over. What do you guys think?" They all came to a quick agreement, and the matter was settled.

"Where's Seth?" Luther asked, looking around and not finding the teen. "I haven't seen him since we got here." He looked worried.

Chris himself looked momentarily panicked. "He's probably fine, but we'll go look." Chris sent the other two back to the boat to wait while they went to find the missing teen.

"Seth!" Luther shouted as he and Chris walked up and down the street.

They heard Shep barking and followed the sound. When they rounded the corner they saw Shep running around the lawn of one of the first houses Chris had checked out. Seth was sitting in an old wicker chair on the front porch.

"What are you doing?" Chris asked, though he was relieved to find the kid in one piece.

"Looking at real estate." Seth replied gesturing to the house behind him.

Chris shook his head, "You like this one?" He asked, not understanding why Seth had parked himself in front of this particular house.

"I checked around and this one has the biggest front porch." He replied. Chris furrowed his brow in confusion while Luther chuckled. "How does it look on the outside Luther? Do you think this one will be alright?"

"Yeah, you did good kid. K-Mart's gonna love it. It's clean on the outside, got a good size lawn and the perfect front porch."

"Does that mean we're going to resettle this place?" Seth asked. "Shep and I checked around, didn't find anything wrong. There's four abandoned cars on this street and six on the next block. Most of the vehicles are trucks but there are a few vans as well, so moving things shouldn't be a problem."

"Yes, we're going to stay here. Come on down, we're going back to the ship to tell Claire and figure out the plan. We'll probably have to clean the place up before we can move here permanently but everyone can help with that."

"That's going to be a lot of trips for the dingy to bring all those people over here since there's no life boats left." Luther commented.

Seth came down the porch steps. "I got that covered, there's large boat on a trailer in the backyard of the house next door."

"That will certainly make things easier, good find Seth. I knew bringing you along was a good idea." Chris slapped him on the back. "Let's go, we can bring it out tomorrow."

They walked back to the beach to meet Mark and Johnson before the party returned to the _Arcadia_.

* * *

><p>Alice was only semi conscious when she heard loud banging on the bedroom door.<p>

"Go away!" She heard the redhead groaned as she turned over, burying her head into Alice's shoulder.

Alice was now fully awake and lightly chuckled at Claire's actions. The knocking on the door persisted and was followed by the voice of K-Mart.

"You two had better get out of bed soon!" The teen yelled. "You've locked yourselves up all day, but it's time to come out and face the world. The guys will be back soon and I know you'll want to speak with them." K-Mart didn't even wait for a response. "I'll be in the control room when you two can pull your lazy butts out of bed!"

Alice heard the teen's footsteps leading away from the room and glanced down at the still asleep redhead. If there was one thing Alice hated doing, it was waking Claire. Sleeping was one of the few moments when they could be completely carefree and she hated pulling Claire away from that peace. She also could never be certain what the redhead would be like after waking. Sometimes Claire would be cranky, and other times she would be completely pissed off at being woken. And on rare occasions she would be in the best mood ever, but those times were few and far between.

She weighed her options, knowing that they would eventually have to get out of bed so they could hear about the settlement and its potential as a new home. She gently shook the redhead, as to not startle her because that was a surefire way of ending up with an angry Claire. However, when Claire didn't wake at the touch Alice was forced into using another method. "Claire," she whispered. "Claire it's time to wake up. Come on." Still nothing. So Alice began placing soft kisses on the redhead's face before lightly sucking on her neck.

Claire let out a sigh and began to shift under the brunette's ministrations. "What's going on?" She slurred as she slowly awoke. Alice pulled back to see the blue eyes she loved so much slowly open and the redhead gaze at her with a relaxed smile. "Hmm," Claire yawned, stretching out her body. "What time is it?" She asked.

"Time to get up." Alice quipped. "K-Mart came by, the guys should be back soon, so we should head up to the control room."

Claire made a face at the idea of getting out of bed, but casting a quick glance out the window and seeing the darkening sky she knew they'd spent pretty much the entire day inside the room, and while that wasn't a problem it was her responsibility to get the report from the scouting party.

She let out another sigh, this one in mild frustration. "Do we have to?" She asked Alice, who just shrugged in response. "Sometimes I really hate being the one in charge." She huffed and somehow managed to pull herself out of bed. Picking up the clothes from the floor she pulled on her previously discarded outfit and threw Alice's on the bed where the brunette was still laying. "You'd better get out of that bed in the next ten seconds if you want a repeat performance of today's activities later tonight." Claire warned and Alice was instantly out of bed and dressed, ready to go.

The redhead tried to hold back the smug smile that threatened to break out on her face. She stalked over to where Alice was standing next to their bed, making sure her hips swayed as she approached. Wrapping her arms around the brunette's neck she gave Alice a quick kiss. Pulling back she winked at her, "Come on you little horn dog." She teased and dragged Alice behind her as they left their room.

The pair met up with K-Mart in the control and didn't have long to wait before they were joined by Chris, Luther, and Seth.

"How did it go?" Claire asked her brother.

"Good, it's a good size settlement, no sign of infection. It's deserted but it hasn't been touched in years by the looks of it. There's a school, community centre, a store, and a few dozen houses, all empty. We should be safe there. There are enough supplies to last a while, and vehicles so we can go out and gather some more later." Chris was noticeably excited, which was a rare occurrence. "This is gonna work Claire. It's our best chance at starting over."

She nodded, taking in all the new information. "This is amazing, I'll call a meeting tonight. Tomorrow, we'll go back and start to get things in order for everyone to make the move." The others nodded their agreement. "Alright, I'll see everyone tonight."

K-Mart stood from her chair and approached Seth. "Come on Seth, you owe me a do over at our thumb war." She said pulling him from the room by the hand. She dragged him through the halls with Shep happily following along behind them.

"Where are we going? My room is the other way." Seth inquired, not liking the idea of not knowing where he was.

"My room, you've never been there and I want to show you before its not my room anymore since we'll be leaving." Seth relaxed and allowed K-Mart to lead him along the corridors until they stopped in front of the door. "This is it." She opened the door and waited for Seth and Shep to enter before shutting it again.

Seth stood still for a moment, taking in a deep breath. "I like it," he said, leaning his walking stick against a wall. "It smells like you. Can I look around?" He asked waving his hands for emphasis.

"Of course." She replied. "Mi casa y su casa."

"Is that Spanish? Cause I'm Canadian you know, we only learn french." He said, feeling his way around the room. Stopping at the built in dresser and feeling along the top. "You have a lot of jewellery." Seth remarked.

"Yeah. I make it out of stuff I find, it's kind of a hobby. I made one for you while you were gone today." She approached the dresser and picked up the bracelet she had made out of electrical wire. "Hold out your hand." Seth did as instructed and waited for K-Mart to tie it on. When she finished he used his other hand to feel it out.

"You used wire?" He asked.

"Yep."

He ran his hand over it again. "Thank you K, it's beautiful. Just like you."

"You don't even know what I look like," she muttered but blushed bright red.

"I don't need to see you to know how beautiful you are, or that you're blushing right now." Seth reached out to K-Mart taking her hand in his own. "But just so I'm sure, can I look?"

She didn't answer, just brought his hand up to her face. Seth reached the other hand up as well and traced along her jaw, up her cheek bones and across her hairline. He moved his hands impossibly slow, tracing around her eyes, over her nose and used only his thumb to trace her lips, a small smile on his face the entire time. When he finished he lowered his hands, taking hers again.

"I knew it, absolutely beautiful." Seth whispered.

K-Mart's breathing had gotten heavy during Seth's exploration. "Seth," she sighed. "Will you kiss me?"

Seth brought his right hand up to cup the back of her head, leaning forward and pulling her the rest of the way. Seth pressed his lips gently against hers, making sure to memorize the way her lips felt. After a moment, K-Mart responded, sliding her mouth over his and kissing him back, but just as gently. When they pulled back K-Mart was smiling and Seth ran his thumb along her cheek.

"Was that okay? It was my first time." He admitted nervously.

"Mine too, and it was perfect." She leaned in to kiss him again, this time letting her lips linger. When she withdrew she smiled again. "Come on, it's time for dinner and the big meeting." She took his hand but this time let Seth lead them down to the cafeteria.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: **My apologies for the delay in update, I had some studying which could no longer be ignored.

* * *

><p>Everyone was assembled in the cafeteria after dinner for the meeting Claire had called to discuss their future. She stood at the front of the room, flanked on both sides by Alice and Chris. "Can I have everyone's attention!" she called and the room gradually fell silent. "We've found a place to stay, it's not too far inland. I'm told it's well stocked and there's enough room for everyone. Tomorrow I'm going ashore to check it out with a small group. It will take all of us to get it ready to live in and when it's done we'll move from the ship to our new home. Housing arrangements will be assigned but any requests can be submitted to K-Mart sometime during the week. If you have any questions, feel free to speak to myself or Chris. That is all, have a good night." Chatter broke out among the people, everyone was excited at the prospect of a new home, and even more so to finally get off the ship.<p>

Claire, Alice and Chris sat down at the table where K-Mart, Seth and Luther were seated. "Why are people submitting requests to me?" the teen asked.

"You're going to help me figure out the housing assignments K, you know almost everyone on this ship. You're the best person for the job, just make sure everyone has a home, okay? I'm counting on you K."

K-Mart nodded excitedly, obviously relishing the responsibility of such an important task. "I can handle it Claire, don't worry."

"Good, you're coming with us tomorrow so you can get the specifics of the new residences." Claire informed her. "I'm going to leave Johnson in charge while we're gone." She said to Chris and he nodded in agreement.

The next day, the core group set out for land. It was a tight fit in the dingy so Chris decided to make a priority of the day to get the larger boat they'd found into the water. When they reached the shore and secured the boat they made their way to the town on foot.

"Okay," Chris began when they reached the edge of town. "Luther and I are going to get that boat. Seth knows the layout of the town pretty well," he said patting the boy on the back. "He can show you ladies around. Let us know if you need anything." Then he and Luther went off in one direction while Seth led the women in another.

"The community centre is the biggest building and the school is the one next to it. The store is around the corner on the next block and there's an ice house behind it." Seth informed the three women, gesturing in the general direction of the buildings with his walking stick, as his other hand was tightly clasped by K-Mart.

They stopped walking, standing in the middle of the street. The three looked around taking it all in. Claire was nodding to herself. "This could work. I wanna take a look around, see what I can find. Alice you coming with?"

The brunette nodded her head. "I think these two can keep each other safe. Right Seth, I can count on you to keep tabs on K? She can be a magnet for trouble."

K-Mart rolled her eyes at Alice's teasing, "We'll be fine. Besides I got some work to do, housing assignments remember? You two go, don't worry about us." When Alice and Claire were out of sight she turned to Seth. "Which house should we start with?" She asked.

"With yours of course."

"Mine?"

"Yeah, I found one I think you'll like. It's this way." He pulled K-Mart by the hand around the corner and down another street. A few minutes later he stopped in front of a single story white house. "I'm told it has a nice lawn, but more importantly," he pulled her towards the house and up the front steps. "It's got the biggest porch in town." He let go of K-Mart's hand and lent against the railing while she took it in.

"It's beautiful Seth, I'm going to look inside. I'll be right back." She disappeared into the house for several minutes of thorough exploration.

"So how is it?" Seth asked when she returned, eager to hear her opinion.

"It's great, but it's a little small. There's only two bedrooms. I mean, Alice and Claire will be happy, I really don't think Claire wanted to share a house with Luther..."

"Wait," Seth interrupted. "Alice and Claire? Was there something I missed? Are they...together?"

"Yes," K-Mart replied slowly. She had forgotten Seth didn't know, but she was suddenly anxious to get his opinion. Same sex couples was not something her parents had ever condoned, and K-Mart imagined that if they had been properly buried after dying they would be rolling over in their graves if they knew the kind of people who were raising their daughter. Personally, she'd never understood the reason for her parent's dislike of gays, and she hoped Seth shared a similar view. "Does it bother you?"

"What?"

"That Alice and Claire are together?" She clarified, biting her lip as she waited for his response.

Seth's eyebrows scrunched together. "Should it? I really don't understand how it would be any of my business. You love who you love right?"

"Exactly." The blonde replied, heaving a sigh of relief. If Seth had not been accepting of Alice and Claire's relationship that definitely would have been a deal breaker for her.

"So that's one housing assignment done." Seth spoke, effectively returning the conversation to the topic at hand. "Who's next?"

"What about you and Chris? What do you two want to do?"

"We talked it over, and if there's a three bedroom house on the outskirts of town we'll take it. And we agreed to take Luther so no one else will have to suffer." He replied and K-Mart giggled.

"That's very admirable of you both," she pulled him back down the front steps and off to look at more houses. "Let's go find you a home!"

* * *

><p>Alice and Claire walked along the far edge of town. Claire had been more than suspicious at Chris' report that the town seemed to be free of danger and had wanted to take a good look around personally just to be sure. There was a large empty field on the far end of town between the settlement and the forest, and the pair stopped to look at the landscape.<p>

"What are you thinking?" Claire heard Alice ask as she gazed at all the open space before them. The brunette had always been the quiet one in their relationship and Claire knew Alice was concerned about her extensive silence over the last several minutes.

"It all just seems too good to be true." Claire observed. "You know what I mean? It's just...I never thought something like this would be possible. That there would be such a large group of survivors, that we would be able to find someplace safe, somewhere we could start over and not live in a constant state of fear. It's all just a little unbelievable."

She felt Alice reach over to take her hand, lacing their fingers together. "It's a great feeling isn't it?" The brunette commented.

"What?"

"To find the one thing you feel like you've spent forever searching for."

Claire nodded slowly, finally able to tear her eyes away from the open field and fixing her gaze on the brunette. "Yeah, I guess it is." Claire had literally spent years searching for some semblance of safety and stability, and here it was up in the middle of nowhere. "Sounds like you know from experience?"

Turning her head to look back at the redhead Alice said: "Definitely. It's actually happened to me twice if you can believe it."

One red eyebrow rose but Claire offered an amused smile to accompany it. "With you, I'd believe just about anything." She swore she could almost see a blush tint Alice's cheeks but if it was real it only lasted a moment. "Tell me about it. What two things did it take you forever to find?"

"It was just the one thing, but I was stupid and had to find it twice." Alice admitted.

"That, I do find hard to believe." Claire knew her brow was now furrowed in confusion. It was hard to imagine Alice doing something stupid. She could think of a number of words she would use to describe the woman she loved, but stupid could never be one of them. Alice sometimes allowed her bravery to cause her to act recklessly, but she still wouldn't qualify those actions as stupid. "But what was so important that you had to find twice?"

The redhead's confusion increased when Alice let out a soft chuckle. "You really have no idea what I'm talking about do you?" Claire shook her head. She hated it when Alice was purposely vague and hoped the brunette would soon enlighten her on what was so funny.

Alice sighed. "Well, the first time, I really had no idea what it was I was searching for. I thought I knew, but as it turns out I could not have been more wrong. After Raccoon City all I was looking for was an escape, not only from Umbrella but from everything. I wasn't safe to be around anyone, so I tried to leave the world behind. And then a funny thing happened," Alice gave Claire a small smirk. "I ended up in the Nevada desert and found this little convoy. They were in way over their heads so I helped them out."

"You saved our lives." Claire interrupted.

"Yeah, ugh," Alice cleared her throat, always feeling slightly awkward when reminded of her heroics. "I had planned to head out back on my own, but after a while I found that I didn't want to leave anymore."

"What changed?" Claire asked, already knowing the answer.

"I met you." Alice replied softly. "I met this brave, intelligent, beautiful redhead whose passion for life reawakened something in me that I thought was gone forever. Before I met you I didn't care if I lived or died anymore, I just ran from Umbrella so they couldn't have the satisfaction of having me. But you do care, and not just about your own life but the lives of everyone you meet. It's amazing." Alice then looked away but didn't drop the hand in her grasp. "You know what happened next."

"You left, or rather I left. You sent us away on the helicopter so you could play hero again." Claire's voice was firm, and she felt Alice let go of her hand, but the redhead refused to let her retreat and clasped Alice's hand tighter than before but the brunette still wouldn't look at her.

"I thought it would be safer for all of you, I thought I could finish what Umbrella and I had started. Instead I sent you right into their trap. You ended up alone, and it was all my fault."

Claire had never seen Alice look so full of guilt and shame. "Hey," the redhead coaxed. "Look at me Alice." She had to wait almost a minute for the brunette to return her gaze. "How are we together right now? Why am I here with you and not alone in the wilderness anymore?"

Alice hesitated. "I found you." The intense look Claire had been giving the brunette softened into a smile and Alice's voice grew strong again. "It took a long time, but I wasn't going to stop until I found you again."

Claire had seen so many changes in the brunette since their first encounter that fateful day in the desert. The Alice she had first met had been reclusive, shying away from all human contact. And now, here she was standing before her, being completely open and honest, ready for the redhead to walk away at any given moment. Claire knew she was the only one who ever got to see this vulnerable side, and was grateful that Alice trusted her so much.

"That's right, you found me. If you hadn't I don't know where I would be, but I know I wouldn't be as happy as I am right now. I mean, obviously I could go without the zombie apocalypse but you can't have everything in life..." Claire started to ramble but fortunately Alice cut her off with a deep, passionate kiss.

When Alice pulled back, both of them were breathless. "I think," she whispered, "to answer your original question, yes I do know from experience." She leaned her forehead against Claire's and closed her eyes. "I didn't realize what I'd found when we first met, but now I know that what I was looking for all along was you."

"I know exactly what you mean." She gave the brunette a quick kiss, then dropped her head onto Alice's shoulder and wrapped her girlfriend in a tight embrace that Alice returned in full. Blue eyes welled up with unshed tears. Claire honestly couldn't remember the last time she had cried and even now the tears refused to fall from her eyes. The pair held one another for a long time before Claire pulled back, taking a moment to wipe her eyes before speaking.

"Alright, I think it's time we get to work or we'll be stuck living on that ship forever." Claire offered a small smile, which Alice returned as she let the redhead drag her back into town.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil.**

**AN: **Here's a quick chapter, I'll try to post the next one sometime later today.

* * *

><p>Claire opened the front door of the community centre and stuck her head inside. Despite being the middle of the day it was still fairly dark inside the building and Claire couldn't see more than a few feet ahead.<p>

"Alice! Are you in here?" She called, her voice echoing off the walls. She hadn't seen the brunette in hours and no one else had seen her either so the redhead had spent the better part of the last hour searching the village. Claire had already looked in the school as well as the store but was still unable to find her girlfriend. She opened the door further and stepped inside. Kicking some debris out of the way she moved down the hall, stopping at each room but not seeing the brunette anywhere.

Earlier her brother had roped her into helping him and Luther move the boat after the two men had somehow managed to get it, the trailer, and the truck they'd used to move it all stuck in the water. It took the three of them hours to get the truck out, and she'd almost killed Luther in the process out of sheer frustration. Claire could feel her annoyance returning now that she couldn't locate the brunette. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence, Alice often wandered off to do her own thing, but after hours of dealing with the combination of her brother and Luther, Claire knew Alice was the only one who could prevent her from losing her temper completely.

Her search of the building coming up empty, Claire made her way back outside and cupped her hands around her mouth. "Alice!" She yelled, and not two seconds later the brunette appeared from around the corner of the building.

"You called?" She replied casually, strolling up next to Claire and stopping at her side.

"Where have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you."

"I was on the roof." Alice answered, jerking her thumb up for emphasis.

Claire looked on in complete disbelief. "Please tell me you're joking." Alice shook her head. "Why were you on the roof? How did you even get up there?"

Alice shrugged. "I wanted a better view."

Claire face palmed, sometimes she couldn't understand how she could be on the brink of insanity when dealing with Luther or K-Mart but seemed to have an infinite amount of patience when confronted with her girlfriend's consistently vague responses.

"And did you see anything interesting while you were on the roof?" Claire asked slowly.

A grin broke out on the brunette's face, and Claire easily recognized the gleam of excitement in her eyes. "Yes." Instead of offering further explanation Alice grabbed a hold of Claire's hand and began pulling her away from the community centre.

The village was ridiculously small so it wasn't long before Alice came to a halt and Claire found herself standing in the middle of the only road leading in or out of the settlement.

"I don't see anything." Claire observed, not understanding what Alice found so interesting about this spot.

"This is the only road connecting the village to the outside world." Alice stated as she gazed at the road stretching in front of them.

Claire frowned in confusion. "Right." She watched the brunette and slowly the pieces began falling into place. "You want to know what's out there, where the road goes."

"I am curious." Alice admitted, and Claire was certain she saw a look of longing on her face for a split second before Alice tore her gaze from the road and looked at the redhead. "I know, I know, we have a lot of work to do here first." Alice sighed in resignation but the lingering smile let the redhead know Alice wasn't really heartbroken at missing an opportunity for adventure.

Alice began to lead them back into town but Claire rooted herself to the ground, keeping them in place. Alice's curiosity had ignited her own and an idea began forming in Claire's mind. "Well," she began when Alice gave her a questioning look. "It would be a good idea to be familiar with the area, right?"

"Absolutely." Alice's smile brightened as she caught on to the redhead's plan. "It's our responsibility to ensure everyone's safety, so we need to be sure there's nothing dangerous out there."

Claire's face sported a matching grin. "I think you're right."

Alice was a little taken aback by the redhead's sudden enthusiasm. "You're serious about this? You want to go check it out?"

Claire nodded. "Yeah. I've been stuck on that damn ship for months and it feels like forever since you and I have done something like this. Plus, I really do think it's a good idea for us to know what's out there before we bring everyone over to live here." She tugged on Alice's hand. "Come on, let's go steal Chris' new truck." And with that she dragged Alice back into town.

* * *

><p>"I forbid it." Chris stated angrily.<p>

"And I really don't care. I don't need your permission and I wasn't asking for it." Claire retorted.

The Redfield siblings had been arguing for almost twenty minutes. Claire had informed her brother that she and Alice were taking a little field trip to explore the area and would be back in a while. Chris had then proceeded to go all brother bear on her, extolling all the potential dangers and problems that she and Alice could encounter. Currently, she and Alice were sitting in the commandeered pick up truck while Luther was stood in front of the vehicle preventing Claire from driving away as she argued with Chris through the open window.

"Look," he sighed. "If you're worried about anything dangerous that could be out there, Luther and I can go out and have a look."

Claire immediately turned from highly annoyed to outright pissed off. "Excuse me? Do you think we can't take care of ourselves? I did just fine without you the last four years, and you honestly don't even know what Alice is capable of." She turned to her girlfriend, looking for support and saw Alice lying in the reclined passenger seat with her eyes closed. Chris followed her gaze and upon spotting Alice gave his sister a smug smile.

"You had better not be asleep." Claire warned.

One eye momentarily opened, "Don't worry, I'm not." Alice assured the redhead before snuggling further into the seat.

"Then what are you doing?"

"Pretending to be invisible."

Claire stared at Alice but the brunette just laid there looking as if she were in a deep slumber. Realizing the other woman would not be of any assistance Claire turned back to her brother.

"Listen, Alice and I will be fine. We'll be back in a few hours and I'll let you interrogate me without complaint. Deal?"

He shook his head. "I still don't like it."

Claire reached out the window to pat her brother's shoulder. "You worry too much. In fact I'm more concerned about you dying from a heart attack than a zombie." She tried to joke but Chris didn't even break a smile. "Just keep an eye on K-Mart while I'm gone and tell Luther to get the fuck out of my way before I run him over."

Still frowning, Chris stepped away from the truck and motioned for Luther to move as well. "Be back before it's time for us to head back to the ship." He ordered and Claire merely waved to indicate she heard him as she turned on the engine and drove herself and Alice down the street and out of town.

Once the settlement was out of sight Claire reached over and gently smacked Alice's thigh. "What the hell was that about? Pretending to be invisible?"

Alice brought her seat out of its recline and opened her eyes. "I didn't want to be in the middle of a Redfield sibling dispute." She answered, shrugging.

Running a hand through her long red locks Claire sat in silence. She and Chris use to bicker a lot when they were kids, especially when she did something he didn't approve of, so she wasn't surprised by Chris' reaction. They hadn't fought too much since being reunited but it had been easy to fall back into their normal pattern. She huffed in frustration. "I know he's just worried about us, but I'm not a child and I don't need him to treat me like one." She gave Alice a sideways glance. "Sorry about before, I didn't mean to put you in the middle."

"It's not a big deal." The brunette was quiet for a moment, choosing her next words carefully. "Just don't forget how lucky you are Claire. You still have you're brother, everyone else we know has lost everyone they care about; family, friends. You still have that connection, please just don't take it for granted." Alice finished and turned her gaze out the window, watching the passing landscape.

Claire slowed the truck down, stopping in the middle of the road. When Alice turned to ask why they were stopped the redhead threw herself across the seat, grabbing Alice's head to pull her into a desperate kiss. Alice opened her lips to accept the redhead's tongue and let her hands wander up and down Claire's sides as she returned the kiss. When Claire pulled back after several minutes she rested her forehead against Alice's.

"I love you." She whispered. "But sometimes I don't like how you're always right."

Alice lightly chuckled. "Well if this is the reaction it gets, I'm going to try and be right all the time."

"Don't push it." Claire warned and tried to return to her seat but Alice had other plans, pulling her back for another long kiss. The redhead smiled against Alice's lips, but after a few minutes when Alice began laying soft butterfly kisses along her neck Claire reluctantly pulled herself away. "None of that now," she said, patting Alice on the thigh then moving back into her own seat. "This expedition was your idea and Chris is going to expect a full report when we return so we better actually go somewhere."

The brunette wore a small pout but didn't protest as Claire restarted the engine and the pair continued their journey into the unknown.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN:** I didn't do any research on Alaska so I'm pretty positive there isn't a place called Ballouville. I made up the name in honour of Cat Ballou, one of my favourite movies. Anyway, please enjoy this chapter.

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><p>They'd been driving for more than an hour when they finally came upon the first signs of civilization. Claire slowed the vehicle down as they closed in on the small settlement.<p>

"Ballouville, Alaska. Population 53." Alice read off the sign as they drove past.

However, the closer they got, the more apparent it became that something wasn't right. The town consisted of one main street and most of the buildings lining it were homes that all looked to be in various states of disrepair. At the end of the road there was what appeared to be a small church and it too seemed to be on the verge of collapse. The whole place could have passed as a ghost town if not for the numerous cars parked neatly on both sides of the street.

Claire stopped the truck on the edge of the small town and the two women hopped out of the vehicle. It was eerily quiet, not even a breeze to be felt. "This is what I'm not getting." The redhead said. "We haven't seen anything remotely dangerous but there's no one around. Where the fuck did everyone go?"

"It looks like they came here." Alice observed. "Look, there's way too many cars to only belong to the people who live here. I think the people from our village came here too." Her eyes darted around suspiciously then settled on the church at the end of the street. "I think we should look there first." And not waiting for Claire to reply she marched up the street and when the pair was about twenty feet away Alice came to an abrupt halt, her arm swinging out to the side to stop the redhead in her tracks.

"What?" Claire asked, looking around but not seeing anything that would have caused Alice to stop. The wind started to pick up and the redhead made a face. "What's that smell?" She sniffed the air, it was somewhat familiar but she couldn't quite place it.

"Death," Alice answered and immediately withdrew two guns from her belt. Raising the weapons in front of her she moved slowly toward the front doors of the church. She turned back to face Claire, "not to treat you like a child or anything but if you want to wait out here that would be fine."

"Just open the door Alice." Claire responded through her clenched jaw. She pulled out her own gun and waited for Alice to move.

Replacing one gun in her belt Alice took a deep breath and reached out with her free hand to open the door. She jerked the handle a couple of times but the door wouldn't budge. "Locked." She muttered then took a step back and kicked at the door several times but it still wouldn't open.

Noticing Alice's growing frustration and not wanting the brunette to hurt herself Claire spoke up. "Let's see if there's a back way in."

Moving slowly around the building the pair found another, smaller door. But again Alice could not open it. "Someone must have barricaded themselves inside." Alice huffed, getting increasingly agitated. She looked around and spotted a small window above the door, just out of reach.

"Give me a boost?" She asked the redhead. Claire rolled her eyes but nodded, and cupped her hands together as she leaned against the side of the building. Alice stepped into the hands and pulled herself up to the window. She looked down to Claire. "Watch yourself," she warned then used the but of her gun to break the window. The glass shattered and some of the pieces rained down on Claire's head.

"Thanks," she muttered and shook her head to remove the glass.

Through the now open window the smell was much stronger but Alice ignored it and pulled herself inside. Her speculation had been correct, she found herself standing on top of a pile of precariously stacked items to barricade the door. She reached out to assist Claire and the redhead was soon standing next to her in the church.

"It really stinks, why did we want to come in here again?" Claire asked, not really expecting an answer as she jumped down from the pile.

Alice looked at their surroundings and found them in a small room and judging by the furniture against the door this had been an office of the priest or preacher. From the light coming in through the broken window she could clearly see that the room was in complete disarray, and it had nothing to do with the moved furniture. There was writing all over the wall and books scattered across the floor. Stepping closer Alice could see the wooden walls were covered in graffiti, with messages about the end of the world being the most prominent theme. Some were bible passages and others were statements about how hell has come.

"Check it out." Claire called and Alice turned around to see the redhead investigating the opposite side of the room where the wall was covered instead with an explosion of paper. They were all print outs, the earlier ones appeared to be about mysterious incidents of people dying but not staying dead. Later ones talked about armageddon and the end of all mankind. "Looks like these people knew about the virus." Claire observed. " Maybe they figured it was only a matter of time before it spread up here too and they cleared out. What do you think?"

"I don't think they went anywhere." The brunette answered as she eyed the door leading out of the room.

"Then where did everyone go?" Claire asked, but the question went unanswered.

Holding up her gun, Alice walked over to the room's entrance and kicked down the door. It fell without resistance and the sound of it hitting the floor echoed loudly. As she had expected, on the other side was the main hall filled with wooden chairs instead of pews and she and Claire walked past the makeshift alter as they entered the room. However, not even Alice could have predicted what they saw.

Dead bodies. Everywhere. The room was filled with them. Some were on the floor and others were propped up in the chairs. Seeing dead bodies was nothing new for them, but to find so many locked up in a church was more than a little unnerving for the two women. Alice looked over at Claire and found her rooted to the spot, face completely pale and with wide eyes staring at the scene before them. Returning her unnecessary weapons to her belt, Alice gently reached out to the redhead, placing a concerned hand on her shoulder. Claire jumped at the unexpected contact, then tried to remove the shock from her face as she looked back to Alice.

"I'm fine." Claire immediately stated.

Alice wasn't convinced but didn't think this was the time or place to argue. She didn't want to get to close to the decaying bodies but her curiosity would not be ignored. While Claire stayed put at the front of the room, Alice walked slowly up the middle aisle, and she was only halfway through when she noticed a pattern among the dead that made her gut clench.

"Maybe the virus did get this far North and they were attacked. It would explain the barricade, trying to keep the undead out but someone inside was already infected." Alice heard Claire's voice, though the sound was muffled as Claire was holding a hand over her face, no longer able to handle the smell of rotting flesh.

"No." Alice stated firmly, she was almost positive about what had taken place inside the church.

"What makes you so sure?" Claire asked.

Alice walked back to the front of the room and stopped next to Claire, a quick glance at the alter confirming her suspicions. "Cause they're all still dead." She finally answered then motioned for the redhead to follow her back into the other room. She climbed out the window first and caught Claire as she stumbled out a moment later.

With one hand on the other woman's back, Alice led Claire back to their truck. She opened the passenger side door for her but Claire refused to get inside.

"What do you think happened?" Claire asked, but her words lacked their usual firmness. Alice could see the redhead's eyes darting back and forth between herself and the church and knew Claire was still in shock over what they had seen.

"I can't be certain," she replied knowing it was a lie but not wanting to upset Claire even further.

Alice found the eyes looking at her go narrow and it was the first sign of Claire returning to normal. "Bullshit." Claire stated. "Besides I asked you what you thought happened. I know you have a theory, and we both know how much you love to be right."

"Trust me, I don't want to be right about this."

"Just tell me. What did you see when you were looking at those bodies?" Claire's face softened and her stance relaxed. "Just tell me." She whispered.

Sighing out of helplessness, knowing there was not a chance that Claire would drop this, Alice tried to find a way to put her explanation as gently as possible. "Next to each body there was a plastic cup, and on the alter there was large bowl. And given the uh, apocalyptic messages we found written on the walls it would appear as if there had been..." she trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence.

"A mass suicide? You think they all killed themselves? There were smaller bodies in there Alice, kids! Why would anyone do that?" The redhead had gotten herself completely worked up and began to pace as she rambled. "It just doesn't make sense. I mean we haven't seen any undead up here, those people probably would have been safe! Why would they do this?"

"Fear, panic, I don't know Claire. They must have thought the virus was coming and didn't want to go out the way the rest of the world did. There's no way they could have known whether or not the virus would reach them." She reached out and stoped the redhead mid stride. Cupping Claire's cheek in her hand, Alice waited until she had her full attention before speaking again. "I'm not saying they did the right thing, but these people were scared. Fear makes people react in different ways, and don't you think what's happened to the world is the scariest thing humanity has ever had to deal with?"

"I'm still scared Alice." Claire's voice was so soft Alice almost couldn't hear it. "Everyday I wake up and I'm glad I did, but I always wonder; is this going to be my last day? I hate it. It's been so long, and I don't want to be scared anymore but I can't help it."

Alice pulled the redhead into her arms, feeling Claire's head drop onto her shoulder and arms tightening almost painfully around her body. "It's ok to be scared Claire, I'd be concerned if you weren't. But I know you, and you don't let the fear control your life and that's why you're still alive. I know it sounds terrible, but those people took the easy way out. They locked themselves up and hid, but you wake up everyday and face the fear. You're the bravest person I know Claire."

Claire pressed a soft kiss to Alice's neck before pulling back enough to look the other woman in the eye while still keeping her arms wrapped around the brunette. "How do you always know the right thing to say to keep me from completely losing my mind?"

"I have no idea. But you should know I've made it my life's mission to keep you safe and make you happy, and if that means keeping you sane then I'm going to do whatever it takes."

"Well, it's working." Claire replied, giving her a quick kiss and the first signs of a smile began to form. "You know, this isn't how I planned for the day to go. I thought we'd look around the new settlement, clean up a bit and I'd try not to strangle Luther. But instead you and I are standing here, having seen something horrific, and you've had to calm me down twice in one day."

Alice quirked her lips up into a crooked smirk. "We still have time, we can head back and do all of those other things if you want."

"Mmm, maybe. I would like to be heading back though. This place gave me the creeps when we got here, and now it's even worse."

Releasing the redhead, Alice indicated the still open passenger door. "I'll drive, it'll be faster."

"In your dreams you drive faster than I do." Claire scoffed, but climbed into the truck anyway. She was too emotionally exhausted to argue further and was all to happy to have the time to just sit and process everything that had occurred that day.

The pair drove in silence, Alice periodically looking over at the redhead to make sure she was alright. The brunette was able to breath a sigh of relief when Claire eventually fell asleep and she slowed her driving considerably to stretch out the journey, trying to give Claire as much time in peace as she could before waking to the usual fears and responsibilities.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN:** Thank you to everyone who leaves reviews, I really appreciate it.

**AN2:** I'm not sure if I like this chapter, but here it is. Enjoy!

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><p>"Dude, it's getting dark out." Luther said as he approached Chris who was standing at the edge of town staring out in the direction his sister and Alice had disappeared hours ago. "And I don't know about you, but I don't really want to spend the night out here yet."<p>

"We're not leaving until they come back." Chris almost growled, not taking his eyes off the horizon. He'd been able to distract himself for most of the day by working with Luther on various projects that would need to be completed before the survivors could expect the live in the settlement. But as the daylight dissipated he grew increasingly agitated and had spent the past half an hour standing in this spot waiting for his sister and Alice to return from their 'field trip.'

"You need to chill out Redfield. I was just talking to K-Mart, and she's not worried." Luther chuckled. "She thinks they're probably late because they stopped along the way to, uh" he trailed off when Chris turned around, his eyes shooting daggers at the other man. "Uh, Never mind. Anyway, stop stressing out."

"How can I not be concerned Luther? I let my sister drive out into the Alaskan wilderness. I should never have let her go, it's not safe. We have no idea what's out there!"

"So? She can take care of herself, she's a grown woman. Plus, she's with Alice and that's like having a small army for protection."

Crossing his arms, Chris didn't look at all relieved. "The same Alice who sent my sister off in a helicopter to the middle of nowhere, almost getting her captured by Umbrella and losing her memory in the process. The same Alice who landed a plane on a roof smaller than a football field, a plane that my sister happened to be riding in as well. Alice can be reckless, I was with her in Vancouver you know. She let hoards of the undead chase her and treated it like some kind of game."

"Anything sounds bad when you say it like that."

Chris uncrossed his arms and lowered them to his sides, but his clenched fists were clear signs of his still present animosity. He sighed in frustration. "I like Alice, but I don't always trust her."

Luther shook his head. "Then you're a fool."

"Whatever, it's not your sister who's out there. You have no reason to worry."

"Don't you get it Chris? That's exactly why you shouldn't be worried. Claire is the only person Alice cares about. Sure, she doesn't want to see anyone else die but even I know she would do anything to keep Claire safe." Luther started to walk away, but turned back after only a few steps. "I know it's none of my business, but I just think you should remember how lucky you are. You're right, it's not my sister, my whole family is dead. You got your sister back, did you ever think that would happen? When they get back, you need to talk to Claire about this. Cause you're going to end up losing her again if you continue to think of her as a child."

Chris ignored his words and allowed Luther to walk away, turning his attention back to the open road.

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><p>Claire startled awake at the feel of something moving along her arm. She shot up, smacking her head on the ceiling of the truck. "Ow," she groaned, rubbing her hand over what felt to be a quickly growing bump on her head. She turned to Alice with an accusatory glare.<p>

"Sorry," Alice apologized, wincing at the sight of the redhead both in pain and highly annoyed. "I tried to be gentle. I just thought it would be a good idea to wake you before we arrived." She pointed up ahead and Claire could see the village up ahead getting nearer as they drove. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, it's just a bump, I'll be fine."

"Good. But, that's not what I meant." At Claire's look of confusion Alice clarified her question. "I meant are you ok with uh, what we found back there? You were pretty shaken up earlier and I just want you to know that if you want to talk about it, I want to listen."

The redhead reached out to lay a hand on Alice's shoulder. "Thanks." She let the hand slide down the other woman's arm and Alice removed one hand from the wheel to lace their fingers together and spared a glance to give her a small smile. Claire allowed her gaze to drift out the window and groaned at what she saw. "I think there's someone else I'll have to talk to first."

Alice looked back as well and noticed Chris standing in the middle of the road before them. "He's waiting for us?"

Claire frowned. "He's pissed off about something. I know it's hard to tell but I'd recognize that look anywhere." She stated, taking in her brother's rigid stance, arms crossed and eyes not straying from their approaching vehicle. When Alice stopped the truck in front of the older Redfield, Claire rolled down her window. "Jump in the back and we'll pick up the others so we can head back to the ship." Chris didn't move, and Claire rolled her eyes in response. "I promise you can yell at me later."

There was a long tense moment when no one was sure what was about to happen before Chris eventually climbed into the bed of the truck.

Claire gave Alice's hand a firm squeeze and as they drove off she whispered a warning to the brunette. "Tonight might be a good time to become invisible."

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><p>The control room was deathly silent as the Redfield siblings stood on opposite sides facing each other, but neither willing to make the first move. It was pretty late and everyone else had gone to bed, and it was only on Claire's insistence that Alice had made herself scarce and left the siblings alone.<p>

Claire was growing increasingly agitated at her brother's attitude. They'd been standing there for the past ten minutes and Chris had yet to speak. She had no idea what he was so angry about but his silence was really trying her patience. It had been a long, emotionally draining day and all she wanted was to sleep, but Chris was standing in the way.

When the silence finally became too much she spoke. "Are you going to say anything? Or can I go to bed now?"

"How was your exploration of the area?" Chris asked through his clenched jaw.

"Is that really what you want to talk about?"

Chris relaxed his stance and let out a deep breath then gave what looked to be a forced smile. "It's where I want to start." He replied casually. Chris slowly walked over to the table in the centre of the room, taking a seat and motioning for Claire to sit as well. The redhead complied but watched her brother with suspicion. He never started their arguments with yelling, he would first try to pretend he wasn't mad to get her to talk. Claire didn't know why he bothered, they always ended up screaming at each other eventually.

"Well, it was interesting." Claire didn't want to talk about what she and Alice had discovered, but she knew Chris was not going to let her leave until all his questions were answered. "Over at the next settlement we found all these abandoned cars so we're pretty sure that's where the people who lived in the area all congregated. We didn't find anyone alive."

"Did you find any dead?"

Claire nodded. "The church was all locked up so we broke in and found dead bodies, hundreds of them. Alice is pretty sure there was a mass suicide because they thought the virus was coming this way and it was the end of the world." Claire spoke without emotion, not wanting to break down again. She saw Chris fidgeting with his hands on the table, but it was the only visible reaction he made to her words.

Chris cleared his throat. "Is that all?"

"Yeah, we didn't want to stick around so we left. We probably should have done something, but I just wanted to get out of there."

Chris reached across the table to pat Claire's arm gently. "It's alright Claire. I know you're trying to hide it but I can see that this has been hard on you." He lent back in his chair. "Tomorrow Luther and I will go out and burn it down."

Claire shook her head. "If you want to go I can't stop you, but take Alice instead. I don't want anyone else to know. No one should have to see that, not even Luther."

"I'll go by myself then."

"Why? Alice will be alright, she's a little better adjusted than I am in dealing with these things."

"I don't need her." Chris said harshly.

"What is your problem? We come back and you're pissed but you won't tell me why and now you're being a jerk about Alice."

"I don't have a problem." He muttered. "I'm not the one who purposely walks out into danger and brings others along. I don't mind risking my life for good reason but you can't expect me to support someone who risks the lives of others, especially my sister."

"Alice doesn't do that." Claire instantly defended.

Chris stood quickly from his chair and slammed his fist down on the table. "That's all she's done since you met her!" Unlike his sister, Chris wasn't the pacing type, so he stood in place as he glared down at Claire. "All she does it put herself and you in danger. Was it even your idea to go out today?"

"Yes!" The redhead shouted, standing up as well.

"Don't you dare lie to me Claire!" When she didn't respond Chris softened his gaze. "I'm just looking out for you. I know how you feel about her, and I don't want it to cloud your judgement."

Claire laughed sarcastically at his words. "That's where you're confused Chris. It's the way you feel about me that's clouding your judgement. I'm your little sister, but I'm not a child. You can worry all you want but it's not your responsibility to look after me anymore. I've proven I can take care of myself and other people too." She sighed as she ran a hand through her red locks. "Now, I don't know when your little problem with Alice started but you had better get over it because she's not going anywhere."

"I don't like you putting all your faith in someone who doesn't even think about consequences."

Claire could not think of any other moment in her life when she was angrier with Chris than she was right then. She took a step forward but forced herself to stop, knowing that if she got any closer her brother would end up with a black eye or bloody lip. "You don't know anything about her Chris. All she's had to deal with since the outbreak of the virus is consequences. You have no idea of the kinds of things she's been through. Even I don't know to what extent she's suffered. But I do know that nothing she does is to put me or anyone else in danger, and even if I didn't love her that's enough for me to trust her."

Chris began to speak but Claire raised a hand to interrupt. "I'm done for tonight. It's been a long day and you're not helping. Take Alice with you tomorrow or don't even think about talking to me. Goodnight." She didn't even wait for a response, just walked right past Chris and out of the control room, slamming the door behind her.

Claire stormed her way through the ship's corridors muttering obscenities under her breath. She hadn't felt so many different emotions in one day since her very first encounter with the undead. She shook off the memory of that first horrible experience not wanting to add anything else to her internal jumble of feelings.

When she saw the door to the room she shared with Alice up ahead she almost ran to it, desperate to escape from the rest of the world. Flinging the door open, she entered and quickly shut the door behind her, leaning onto it out of exhaustion. Claire rubbed her temples for a moment, trying to calm down. Ready to just fall into bed, she looked up and was surprised to see Alice already occupying her half of the space. Despite the late hour Claire had not expected Alice to be in the room. The brunette was laying perfectly still on her back with both hands resting behind her head, her eyes were open and she was staring at the redhead in concern.

"You're here." Claire stated.

"Should I not be here? Because I can leave if you want to be alone for a while."

Claire shook her head in the negative as she pushed herself off the door. "No, I definitely want you here. I'm just surprised because you're never here by yourself." The redhead only had enough energy to kick off her shoes before dropping unceremoniously onto the bed, rolling on her side and pressing herself tightly against the brunette.

"I spoke with Luther to see if he knew what was wrong with Chris. After talking with him I thought I should be here for when you got back."

"Why? What did Mr. West say?" Claire asked through a yawn.

"Just that Chris was being stupid and wrong, but nothing specific."

"Please don't do that."

Alice arched an eyebrow in confusion. "Do what?"

"Say something to make me like Luther, I don't think I can handle it right now." Claire answered and felt Alice chuckle slightly beside her. "Chris is being stupid, but I told him to get over it."

"What is he so mad about?"

Claire sat up a bit so she could look at the brunette as she spoke. "He thinks you put me in danger." She could see Alice was about to speak so she pressed a finger to her lips. "I know what you're going to say but you're wrong. Chris is wrong. I don't believe for even one minute that you ever have or ever will do anything to purposely put me or anyone else in a dangerous situation. We've all be in danger, but that's because the world isn't safe anymore, it has nothing to do with you."

"But I could always do more to make sure you're safe."

Claire shook her head again. "No. I like how you're concerned about me but don't treat me like a glass figure. You knew that what we did today could potentially be dangerous but you didn't try to stop me from going like Chris did."

"That's because as much as I care about your safety I can still see that you're a total badass who can take care of herself."

"And don't you forget it." Claire smiled triumphantly. "Now kiss me, I'm about to fall asleep at any moment." She ordered and Alice was only too happy to comply.


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: **K-Mart is back in this chapter, as well as more of Chris being an idiot. Enjoy!

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><p>Early the next morning K-Mart awoke to the sound of soft knocking on her door. Dragging herself out of bed she pulled on a sweater before yanking open the door. Alice was standing on the other side and greeted the blonde with an apologetic smile.<p>

"Sorry to wake you K."

"It's alright." She yawned. "Are we leaving already?" Then her eyes widened and she became fully alert. "Oh my God! Am I late? Did I oversleep? I'm sorry, I'll be ready in a second."

Alice quickly grabbed K-Mart by the shoulders. "You're not late, calm down. I just want to talk to you about something. I need a favour."

"Oh, okay. Come in." The blonde flipped on the light switch and stepped back, allowing Alice to enter the room before closing the door.

K-Mart had been more than a little surprised at seeing the brunette outside her door. Alice had never been to her room before, and never asked her to do anything that could be considered a favour. Her relationship with Alice could not be more different than the one she had with Claire. It lacked the familiarity and comfort she had built with the redhead over the last several years, and K-Mart often found herself rambling when she and Alice were alone to avoid the possibility of an awkward silence. She watched as Alice surveyed her room and couldn't help but feel a little nervous, not knowing what it was that Alice could possibly need from her.

When Alice turned back to face her, she looked at the brunette expectantly. "So what's up?"

"Do you mind staying behind today?"

K-Mart didn't understand how that would be a favour so she answered the question with a question. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, it's just Claire and Chris are fighting so if you could distract her with something today that would be great. Otherwise she'll probably be miserable all day, muttering under her breath and pacing."

Understanding what Alice had in mind K-Mart nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I know how she gets when she's upset. Don't worry Alice, I'll take care of it." She crossed the room to sit on her bed and gave the brunette a look of complete seriousness. "Are you going to beat up Chris today?" She asked. Things had been tense between the siblings on the ride back to the ship and the teen didn't want to make things worse by getting involved. But if Alice was keeping Claire and Chris apart and asking her for favours it must be serious.

"Maybe." Alice chuckled. "We'll see how things go today. I don't want to, but Claire gave me permission just in case."

K-Mart laughed. "She must really be angry with him. What's going on with them anyway?"

"They just don't agree about some things." Alice replied hesitantly, not wanting to reveal that it was actually her that was at the centre of the Redfield's squabbling.

The teen looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hmm, I didn't know they needed to be separated because of a little disagreement." She eyed Alice suspiciously. "You know, if you don't want to tell me that's fine. Claire's never afraid to tell me when it's none of my business so it doesn't hurt my feelings anymore."

"Right, I'll keep that in mind. Uh, thanks for your help K, I owe you." And with that Alice slipped out of the room and K-Mart was once again alone.

The blonde laid back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. K-Mart was fairly certain that Claire would fill her in on what was going on, unlike Alice, the redhead didn't keep too many things bottled up inside and frequently vented to the teen when she was angry. K-Mart already had an idea of something that was sure to distract the redhead and was actually looking forward to the day ahead. She and Claire hadn't spent as much time together as of late and K-Mart missed her.

It was still early, but now that she was awake there was no point in trying to go back to sleep so she once again detached herself from the bed and started getting ready for the day.

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><p>Alice made sure she was the first one on deck, thinking Chris would easily find an excuse to leave without her if she wasn't present. Hearing approaching footsteps revealed the older Redfield as well as Luther and six other men, only half of which she recognized. Luther greeted her, but Chris walked straight by without acknowledging her presence.<p>

Certain that this was going to be a terrible day before it even started, Alice momentarily entertained the thought of staying behind. But she had made up her mind last night to sort things out with Chris, no matter how uncooperative he might be. Alice allowed the image of Claire to flood her mind, reminding herself that she was doing this for the redhead, before she followed the men into the boat taking a seat next to Luther, ready for the long day to begin.

An hour later, Alice found herself sitting in the passenger seat of the truck amidst the most uncomfortable silence she had ever witnessed. Chris had insisted on driving and she hadn't argued, biding her time for the eventual blowout she was sure was on its way.

When the pair pulled up to Ballouville, nothing had changed since the day before. The town was still eerily silent and the church still stood as an ominous presence at the end of the street. Exiting the truck, Alice stood in front of the vehicle waiting for Chris. He appeared a moment later and if not for Alice's quick reflexes she would have been hit by the canister he threw in her direction.

"We're going to torch the building, obviously." He ordered sarcastically, shaking his own tank for emphasis.

"Ok." Alice replied calmly, and followed him up the street.

"You should have done this yesterday." Chris muttered under his breath.

"I know, but Claire was really upset so I wanted to get her out of here as fast as possible." She narrowed her eyes at Chris. "I suppose I could have left her in the car but I didn't think she wanted to watch it burn. I mean, there's a reason she didn't want to come back here today you know."

Chris came to an abrupt halt and turned on the brunette. "Don't talk to me like you know what's best for my sister!"

Alice didn't stop, rather ignoring his outburst and continued up the street.

Chris grumbled but didn't speak again. Alice stood outside the church as Chris went in to see for himself what had taken place and began hurling gasoline onto the building. When Chris reappeared with his empty canister they set the building on fire and moved upwind a safe distance to watch it burn.

After the first hour of silence, Alice had finally had enough with Chris ignoring her and was determined to have it out.

"So, I'm really interested to hear why you hate me so much all of a sudden." She began casually, watching the rising smoke from the blaze.

"I don't hate you."

"So it's a trust thing is it? Hmm, well can I ask what it is I've done that's given you a reason not to trust me?" She probed.

"I'm just not certain that you always have Claire's best interest in mind." He answered defiantly.

Alice could feel her blood boiling at his accusation. She didn't know why his words were affecting her so much when Claire had told her all this the night before. Alice had to take a couple of deep breaths to keep her anger in check before speaking again.

"I disagree."

Chris faced her, greeting Alice with a look of complete disbelief. "You disagree? That's your defence? What do you expect me to do now? Am I just suppose to accept that? Maybe give you a hug and say 'well as long as you disagree I guess that makes everything ok.' I don't think so." He was about to continue his tirade but Alice interrupted him.

"First of all, I don't feel the need to explain myself to you. But since you're being such a dick who won't let it drop I guess I'm forced to." She said, poking him in the chest causing Chris to take a few steps back. "I know your type Chris, military trained, battle tested, I bet you think you've seen it all. Well I have some news for you, nothing you've ever experienced can compete with me, and the wrath I can exhibit when someone or something tries to fuck with me."

"I'm not scared of you." Chris said, standing up straighter to his full height though it wasn't enough to tower over Alice.

Alice for her part, narrowed her eyes and glared at Chris intensely. "You should be," she warned. "But more importantly, you should be scared for if a time ever comes when I'm not around to make sure Claire is safe. Because know this, there is nothing I wouldn't do to protect her. But you know what? She doesn't need me to keep her safe, she can take care of herself. I sent her on a helicopter to a place that didn't exist and somehow she managed to stay alive. And did you know she saved my life? In the prison shower block, that...thing, it would have had me if not for her."

Chris was stunned into silence, but that was fine with Alice cause she wasn't finished.

"But it's more than that, she saves my life everyday just by being a part of it. When I met Claire all I cared about was revenge and it didn't really matter if I died in the process. She changed that, she changed me. And if that's not enough to convince you that I have her best interest at heart, after all she's done for me than I really don't know what to tell you." And with that Alice headed back to the truck without a backward glance.

* * *

><p>"So this is just a rough map I drew of the town, the numbers on the houses indicate how many people could potentially live in each home." Claire listened to K-Mart explain as the pair sat in the control room. "Based on the number of people we have we shouldn't be too crowded. I got most of the housing requests after last nights meeting, so when I put the two together it should work out pretty well. I should be able to make just about everyone happy."<p>

Claire knew K-Mart was doing. The teenager had cornered her early that morning at breakfast and had been dragging her around the ship all day, saying they were overdue for some bonding time. And while that was true, Claire also knew K-Mart was trying to distract her from thinking about her fight with Chris and how he and Alice were getting along today. And though Claire didn't want to admit it, the blonde was doing a pretty good job. Not having a free moment to herself all day meant not having the time to be angry.

Claire smiled and clapped the teen on the back. "This is good work K, I knew I could trust you with this."

"Thanks. Most of the houses are in good condition, but a few will need some work so we should start with those." She indicated which houses needed the most work on her map. "Oh, and this one," she said pointing. "This one is ours."

Claire raised an eyebrow. "And who are you including when you say ours?" If K-Mart expected her to share a house with Luther or have Chris and Alice living under the same roof and have everyone live as one big happy family she had another thing coming.

"Just you me and Alice of course. Chris, Luther and Seth are taking the small one on the edge of town." She replied. "Chris said that for 'security' reasons they should be on the perimeter."

"Of course he did. Whatever, at least he and Luther will be away form me. So why this specific house for us? Is it pink? Or did you choose it for some other ridiculous reason?" She teased.

"Seth picked it out. I uh, told him the other day that I'd always wanted a house with a large front porch and he found one." Her cheeks flushed as she explained. "If you see it and don't like it, I don't mind living somewhere else. Whatever you want to do Claire."

Even back in the desert the redhead had been hard-pressed to deny K-Mart anything so if the blonde wanted a front porch that's what she would get. "I'm sure it's great K. If you checked it out and you like it, that's good enough for me." She watched the blonde smile excitedly at her approval and couldn't help but return the grin. "And uh, thanks for today K. I know that Alice probably asked you to do this, but you always find a way to make me feel better."

K-Mart stood up and approached Claire to wrap her arms around her in a tight embrace. "You're my big sister, and my best friend Claire. So if I have to protect you from yourself or someone you're pissed at, then that's what I'm going to do." She said letting go to stand back.

"Protect me from myself? You sound like Alice." Claire muttered.

"Good," K-Mart replied. "She's much smarter than you." Then she ducked to avoid Claire's swinging arm.

"You should mention that to Chris. He's under the impression that Alice can't be trusted to keep us out of danger."

"That's just stupid. She's saved all our lives," K-Mart stated then added as an afterthought, "multiple times."

"Exactly. And if it wasn't for Alice, he would probably still be locked away in that prison."

"Maybe they'll have it all worked out when they get back." The blonde offered optimistically, though Claire thought maybe the teen was being a little naive. She knew what Chris could be like when he thought he was right. And she knew what Alice would do when confronted with a challenge. If Claire was honest with herself, she expected the pair to return to the ship looking worse for wear.

Shrugging off the unpleasant thought, Claire returned her attention to the teen. "Sit down K, and let's get this finished." The two returned to the table and K-Mart's map to continue sorting out the housing assignments.

* * *

><p>Alice sat alone on the hood of the vehicle for a long time. And it was only when the flames of the burning church finally started to die down that she saw Chris hesitantly heading in her direction. He stopped maybe ten feet away, almost as if he were scared to get too close. Alice watched him curiously, but didn't give him an opening. After all the trouble he'd cause she was forcing him to make the first move.<p>

He cleared his throat before speaking. "I may have been quick to judge your actions and it was wrong of me to doubt your intentions. It's just that Claire, she's all I have left. I'm terrified of losing her."

Alice hopped down from her perch and took a few steps towards the visibly distraught man before her. "On that last point we can both agree. And I suppose I can forgive you for being such an ass if an apology is what you're offering."

"It is. It's not easy for me but I am sorry." He held out his hand, and Alice without hesitation reached out to shake it. "I know my sister isn't stupid, and if she trusts you so much, than I guess I should too."

Alice squeezed his hand tighter before dropping it. "I hope you have a better apology than that for when you talk to Claire."

He chuckled. "Don't worry, I know exactly what to do to guarantee that all will be forgiven." At Alice's quirked eyebrow he reached into his pocket and pulled out an object that made the brunette chuckle as well.

"Where did you get cigarettes?"

"I went through a couple of these houses while waiting for the fire to die down. There wasn't much that we could use, but at least I found these. Even Claire, no matter how upset with me she's been, has never been able to deny cigarettes as a peace offering." He shrugged nonchalant, re-pocketing the pack. "So, you want to head back and join the others?"

Alice nodded. "We'd better. We've probably left Luther in charge for too long as it is. God only knows what he has those guys doing over there."


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Resident Evil.

* * *

><p>Alice stood on the deck of the <em>Arcadia <em>with Chris late that afternoon, staring out at the water. Things between them were still a little awkward, but the majority of the tension had dissipated over the course of the day. She didn't think friends was the appropriate term but was confident that Claire would at least be appeased that they were being friendly.

Chris spoke first. "We're good right? You and me? Cause that's all Claire's going to care about."

Alice bit her lip, she had been wondering something since the night before and had avoided bringing it up all day, but she knew it had to be dealt with if they were going to be honest with one another. "Maybe, but I want to ask you something first."

"Sure." Chris replied casually, as he stood back from the railing to stretch and Alice was pretty certain she heard more than one joint in his back crack.

"Your," Alice trailed off, trying to find the right words "...issues with me. They were based on my actions right? Not on the uh, nature of my relationship with Claire?" Once the words were out she frowned, not liking the way it sounded.

Chris stopped mid-stretch to give Alice a horrified expression. "What?" He spluttered and fell into a stunned silence for a moment before finding his voice again. "No! I mean, give me some credit Alice." Then he grimaced. "Well, I get why you would ask me that after how I behaved but believe me, it has nothing to do with...that."

Alice watched his face turn an interesting shade of red and began to wish she hadn't said anything. "Ok, uh...good."

"Look," he began, running a hand over his barely there hair in an action that immediately reminded Alice of the redhead. "I probably shouldn't like you based on the fact you're dating my sister but the thought honestly never crossed my mind." He then gave her a sly grin. "It's not like you're the first girlfriend Claire's ever had, because trust me, there have been a lot."

Alice felt her gut clench with an emotion she had not felt in a very long time, jealousy. "Define 'a lot.'" She said, using air quotes.

But Chris waved her off. "That's not important. The point is, I've been fine with Claire's romantic choices since she came home from school in tenth grade announcing that she'd been successful in petitioning the school to start a softball team." He rolled his eyes at the memory and Alice chuckled as if she could see exactly what he was remembering. "Obviously I don't want to hear any details about your relationship with my sister, but the relationship itself is not a problem."

"Ok." Alice nodded, glad to have that cleared up.

"So, we're good now right?" Chris asked.

"Yeah."

"Ok. I'm going to go find Claire and apologize for being such a jerk yesterday." He winced, though Alice didn't know if it was at the apology itself or that he had to apologize to his little sister.

Alice nodded again. "You'd better. Just because we're cool doesn't mean she's going to be very forgiving though, she was pretty upset with you."

"I know. But don't forget, I have my secret weapon." He patted the pocket of his jacket lightly with a smug smile. "One cigarette and Claire won't even remember what we were fighting about."

Alice lightly shoved him. "Then quit stalling and get to it. And think about this while you're at it; if she's not happy when I see her, I'm going to kick your ass. Understand?"

Chris waved her off as he walked away, but picked up his pace as he headed inside.

* * *

><p>"What are they doing?"<p>

"I don't know, it looks like they're just standing there."

Claire and K-Mart were still in the control room, but were currently spying on Alice and Chris out on the deck below.

"Do you think Alice beat him up today?" K-Mart asked as they stared out the same window.

"I doubt it," Claire replied. "If he can stand there, I don't think she hurt him. But I can't see, they're too far away."

K-Mart turned away from the window, "binoculars?"

They both looked around the room, spotting said object on the shelf opposite their position. Claire and K-Mart shared a look before they both made a mad dash for the lenses, reaching them at the same time. There was a brief scuffle that Claire easily won and holding the binoculars out of the blonde's reach she walked back to the window.

Holding them up to her eyes, Claire looked back down to the deck and could clearly see her brother and Alice. They now appeared to be in the middle of a conversation, but about what she had no clue. Chris appeared to be blushing and Claire felt a smug grin spread across her face, glad to see her brother looking so uncomfortable.

"It doesn't look like she hit him." Claire lowered the binoculars and passed them off to the teen. They're just talking."

K-Mart had a look for herself and spoke as she spied on the pair below. "Well, if they're not fighting do you think they worked it out?"

The redhead shrugged and began pacing behind the blonde. "I hope so, I don't know what I'll do if it only got worse." She was beginning to rethink her whole idea of forcing her brother to talk to Alice. She couldn't stand the idea of two of the most important people in her life not getting along.

K-Mart brought an immediate halt to the redhead's pacing when she left the window and spoke. "Well, I guess you're about to find out. Chris is on his way inside." The teen moved toward the door. "I'll send him your way. Good luck!" And just like that Claire was alone in the control room, but it was only for a few minutes.

Chris stepped into the room timidly, and though she didn't let it show on her face, Claire took some satisfaction in seeing him look so uneasy. As far as she was concerned, he deserved it.

"You're back." She said, feigning surprise to hide that she had been spying on him before.

"Yeah." He shifted in place but didn't look away. "I wanted to apologize. Alice and I talked a lot today, probably more than either of us wanted to, but I listened to her and I realized you were right."

Claire crossed her arms, there was no way she would be letting Chris off that easy. "You should have listened to me, I told you Alice could be trusted."

"I know, and I'm sorry I didn't listen. I should have trusted your judgement and not have let my big brother overprotective instincts get in the way. I thought I knew what was best for you, but clearly that's not my job anymore."

Claire relaxed her stance a little but still had a few things she wanted cleared up. "So, you talked to Alice?" Chris nodded. "And you got over whatever problems you had with her?" Again he nodded. "And you apologized to her right?"

"Yes."

"And when I talk to her later, she'll be able to verify everything you just told me?"

"Yes."

"And the next time I tell you you're wrong you'll listen to me?"

"Probably not." Chris replied honestly. "You know how stubborn we Redfields can be."

"I guess I can accept that."

"So you forgive me?"

Claire pretended to think about it for a minute. "I don't know Chris, I was pretty upset with you last night. I'm not sure if I can just forget it." The smile on her face made it clear she was teasing and Chris, for his part gave her a puppy dog expression.

"Please Claire." He pouted and reached into his pocket. "If you forgive me, I'll give you these." He waved the open package of cigarettes in front of her and laughed at seeing her eyes move back and forth, following his hand.

"Are those what I think they are?"

"Yep. There's six cigarettes in here. And you can have all of them if you forgive me."

Claire answered without missing a beat. "Done." She crossed the room quickly, snatching them from his hand. She was halfway out the door when she came back and threw her arms around her brother. "I love you Chris, and I would forgive you even without the nicotine." She pulled back, "I'm not gonna lie though, it makes it a lot easier."

Chris chuckled and watched as she dashed from the room again, practically running so she could get outside and smoke.

* * *

><p>Alice had remained outside, she knew it would be Claire's first stop once the redhead got her hands on those cigarettes, so she didn't mind waiting. However, she wasn't alone for very long, as K-Mart appeared next to her.<p>

"Hi Alice" the teen greeted.

"Hey K, what are you doing out here?"

"Claire and I were spying on you and Chris from the control room." She pointed vaguely and Alice looked up to see light coming from the window. "She and Chris are talking right now so I thought we should do the same!"

Alice quirked an eyebrow at the teen. She couldn't understand how the blonde could be so enthusiastic all the time but be completely nonchalant when admitting to spying on her and Chris. "Why were you spying on us?"

"Because you guys were just standing here! We didn't know if Chris was still being a jerk or if you had beat him up." K-Mart leaned closer and whispered like she was conveying a secret. "Between you and me, I think Claire's a little disappointed you didn't at least smack him around a little."

"Well, I did leave the threat hanging." Alice chuckled. "But I don't think I'll need to. He apologized and I think he's making up with Claire right now." K-Mart nodded in understanding. "So, you did what I asked?"

The blonde waved off the question. "Easily. I think Claire was happy for the distraction, and it was nice to spend time together."

"What did you two do?"

"Well, we sorted out the housing assignments. You, me and Claire are going to be across from the school. That's ok with you right? I mean, I know you and I haven't spent that much time together, and you probably don't want me around but I promise I won't be in the way or anything." The teen started pacing, and Alice briefly wondered how much time she would have to spend with the redhead before she too picked up the habit.

"Woah, K-Mart, slow down. I don't mind having the three of us living together. I know it's what you and Claire both want and that's fine with me. I know you and I aren't as close as you are with Claire, but I want the two of us to have a good relationship. So if you need help or advice or anything like that, I want you to know you can talk to me."

K-Mart looked momentarily surprised. "Oh, alright. I just thought...Never mind."

"What?" Alice questioned, curious of what the teen was thinking.

K-Mart squirmed a little and spoke slowly as if unsure of her words. "You're just not the type of person I pictured who would want to be raising kids."

"I'm not." Alice immediately clarified. "But you're not a child, so I think it will be ok."

"Ok, ah thanks, I guess." They both stood there, facing each other in an awkward silence. For the second time in less than an hour Alice was beginning to wish she hadn't said anything and was sure she'd had enough uncomfortable conversations in one day to last a lifetime. K-Mart slowly started to back away. "I think I should probably leave before things become even more awkward."

Alice nodded. "That would be preferable." But before the teen was out of sight she called out to her. "Thanks for your help today!"

K-Mart looked back over her shoulder to give Alice a grin and a wave before disappearing inside.

Alice walked off in the opposite direction, only stopping when she could go no further. As the sky darkened, the stars slowly became visible. She stared at the sky with fascination, enjoying the peace it made her feel. Alice had been spending pretty much all of her spare time outdoors since the defeat of Umbrella. It was freeing to be able to just stand outside and not worry about being eaten alive, or being tracked by the evil corporation, and Alice was enjoying it immensely.

Her attention was pulled from the sky the instant she breathed in the familiar scent of cigarettes. Turning around, she could easily see Claire stumbling around carelessly in her direction, too engrossed in what she was doing to pay attention to where she was going. Alice watched with mild amusement as the redhead took a long drag from her cigarette with a dreamy expression on her face.

"Having fun?"

At the sound Claire looked up and spotted Alice for the first time. "Yes, I am." She replied, a huge smile in place. "Lots and lots of fun."

"They're just cigarettes Claire."

Claire's grin fell off and her eyes widened in horror. "Alice, if you love me you'll take that back this instant."

"Ok, I take it back." Alice chuckled, putting up her hands in resignation. She watched as Claire reluctantly dropped a butt to the ground, stomping it out before pulling another cigarette out of the package. "Are you going to smoke them all right now?"

Claire blew out a perfect ring before answering. "That's the plan." She looked down at the package still firmly clasped in her hand then held it out to Alice. "Do you want one?"

"You're willing to share?"

"Only with you."

Alice shook her head. "Thanks, but I'm good. I'd rather watch you enjoy them."

Claire grinned and reached her free hand out to the brunette, lacing their fingers together. "You know, everyone would be shocked if they knew just how sweet you are." Alice gave her a warning look. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." Claire reassured.

"So you and Chris made up?"

"Yep," the redhead replied, quickly lighting up another cigarette. "Thanks for talking to him today, it really means a lot to me that you would do that. I can bet he wasn't exactly forthcoming with the apologies and I know you only did it for my sake, so thank you."

Alice released Claire's hand in favour of wrapping an arm around the redhead. "He was a bit of an ass to start the day, but he came around eventually." She pressed a kiss to the redhead's temple. "And your right, I did only do it just for you. So I think, in all fairness, you kind of owe me." She said mischievously.

"I offered you a cigarette, what more do you want from me?" Claire replied indignantly, but by the gleam in her eye Alice could see the redhead's mind was racing toward the same conclusion she was thinking.

"I bet if you thought about it really hard, you could think of a better way to make it up to me than cigarettes."

Claire flicked the butt of her final cigarette off the side and into the ocean. "I think," she spun around so they were face to face and wrapped her arms around Alice's neck, leaning in close enough for her lips to brush over the brunette's ear as she spoke; "if you don't mind kissing an ashtray I could definitely find a way to make it up to you."

Alice pulled back enough to kiss the redhead firmly, slipping a tongue between Claire's lips and kissing her for several minutes. When she ended the kiss she winked. "I don't think bad breath will a problem."


	12. Chapter 12

**AN:** My apologies for the long delay in updates. I reworked this chapter several times and am finally pleased with the results. I hope you enjoy, it's extra long!

**AN2:** I hope no one minds too much but Seth makes his return in this chapter, but the chapter is all about Alice.

**AN3:** Flashback in italics.

* * *

><p>"You have to help me." Claire panted as she skidded into the bedroom, shutting the door behind her and leaning against it.<p>

Alice looked up from her place on the bed, setting the book she was reading aside. "Sure, but what is it that you need help with?" The brunette stood up, crossing the room to stand in front of Claire.

The redhead was about to answer when there was frantic knocking on the door behind her. Claire's eyes widened and she immediately jumped away, hiding behind Alice. "I'm not here!" She whispered into Alice's ear. "Whatever you do, don't let her in."

"Should I shoot them?" Alice asked, only half joking.

"No! Of course not! Just get rid of her! Please." Then Claire moved as far away from the door as possible, flattening herself against the wall as if it would somehow make her invisible.

Alice watched with a mixture of concern and amusement. She had seen the redhead go head to head with the undead and things much worse, things she was certain were much scarier than whoever was standing on the other side of the door. Claire continued to stare at the door in horror and from the way she was still breathing heavily, Alice figured the redhead had actually run away from whoever it was. Her attention was pulled from Claire as the knocking on the door persisted. Tentatively, Alice opened said door but only wide enough for her head to fit through. In the hall was a short, middle aged woman with dark hair, who was standing with her arms crossed, scowling and tapping her foot impatiently. Alice didn't recognize the woman, but wasn't surprised as she rarely interacted with many of the others on board.

She did however, offer the woman a polite smile. "Hello, is there something I can help you with?"

"Yes, I'm looking for Claire." The woman replied cheerfully as she relaxed her stance, seemingly appeased that someone had finally answered the door. "I had some more questions I need her to answer."

She seemed harmless enough, and Alice was burning with curiosity over what this woman could have possibly done to have forced Claire into hiding in their bedroom. However, she'd promised to help the redhead and get whoever this was to go away. "I'm sorry, but she's not here. I haven't seen her all day." She gave the woman an apologetic smile.

The woman frowned in disappointment. "Oh, well do you know where I can find her?"

Alice wasn't always proud of it, but she was an excellent liar. "Nope," she shrugged. Than a wicked idea popped into her head and Alice had to physically stop the evil smirk from spreading across her face. "But, if you have questions, I'm almost certain that Chris could help you out."

Alice watched as the woman contemplated her words. "Yes, I think you might be right. Thank you for your assistance." She responded graciously then took off down the hall.

Alice shut the door and looked back to the redhead who was still standing perfectly still on the far side of the room.

"Is she gone?" Claire asked desperately and gave a huge sigh of relief when Alice nodded. "Thanks."

Normally, Alice would have let it go at that. But something about the way Claire was behaving peaked her interest, and she just had to know what was going on. "What was that all about?"

Claire sighed heavily as if just thinking about it was exhausting. "That was Mrs. Parker and she's been following me all day, asking questions about the settlement and when we're moving and how can we be sure it's safe." Claire moved across to the bed and flopped down on her back, staring up at the ceiling. "She's nice and everything and they're valid questions, but nothing I say will calm her down. I get that she's paranoid, I'm nervous about the whole thing too but I can't take anymore!" She sat up a little, leaning back on her elbows to look at Alice who was still standing near the door.

"So you ran away from her?" Alice laughed, ignoring the scowl on Claire's face. "You, Claire Redfield, our fearless leader, the one I've seen take on any challenge without hesitation, ran away from a middle aged woman with some questions?"

"Incessant questions!" Claire protested. "If it had been you I bet you would have thrown yourself over board by now." She fell back onto the bed. "She's like K-Mart on crack magnified by a million! I thought people mellowed out as they got older, but not Mrs. Parker. I bet she drove the zombies away with her excessive chatter and that's how she's lived this long." Claire covered her face with her hands.

Alice took pity on her girlfriend and sat on the edge of the bed, gently rubbing a comforting hand on Claire's leg. "Well she's gone now. I sent her to bug Chris so you should be off the hook."

Claire shot up. "You did?" A wicked grin spreading across her face. "That's genius! Why didn't I think of that?"

"You were too busy running away." Alice teased and Claire was quick to gently smack the brunette's arm.

"I was trying to do the right thing you know, but that woman is exhausting." She sighed. "Yes, it was childish to run away but I think I've put up with enough for one day, don't you?"

"Absolutely." Answered Alice, pushing Claire backwards and climbing fully onto the bed, arms on either side of Claire's head as she hovered over her. "And I think it all worked out quite nicely, because now I have you all to myself."

Claire smirked. "Hmm, looks that way." She reached up, arms wrapping around Alice and pulling her down so the two were pressed together, not an inch of space between them. Alice smiled back before kissing the redhead softly, running a hand up her side while the other remained rested on the bed. Claire let her own hands wander Alice's back, working their way under the hem of the shirt she was wearing and travelling back up, now gliding over smooth skin.

Alice dragged her lips away from the redhead's mouth and began pressing gentle kisses along her jaw line and down her neck, finding the sensitive spot above the collarbone that was guaranteed to make Claire moan. Without fail, Alice heard the soft sound escape and pulled back, smugly satisfied with her efforts. "Feeling better?" She questioned.

Claire brought one hand up to trace over the brunette's face and sighed. "You always make me feel better."

If Alice thought it was possible she would have swore her heart skipped a beat as she felt all her previous cockiness fade away in favour of something much better. Alice knew it was love that she was feeling, that pull in her chest every time she looked at Claire could not be mistaken for anything else. It was in moments like these that Alice was amazed at just how many emotions she felt just from the two of them being in the same room. Whenever Claire entered her vicinity Alice's first instinct was always to establish physical contact. Watching the redhead had become one of her favourite pastimes since the two had met, but nothing could compare to the way she felt when they held hands, or kissed. It was both peaceful and thrilling at the same time. It made her feel alive in ways she never thought possible.

Alice wanted to say something then, to reassure the redhead that she would always be there to make her feel better. That she would always be around to be whatever Claire needed her to be and do anything the redhead asked. But nothing she thought of seemed adequate enough. Staring into the blue eyes she would never tire of, Alice knew that everything had been worth it. All the pain and torture she had endured, everything that she had lived through in order to bring her to this moment had been worth it. And she knew that one day she would find a way to tell Claire just how much she loved her. But for now, for now she would show her. And as she lent back down to kiss soft lips again she hoped that showing would be just as effective as telling.

* * *

><p>Later that night Alice slipped out of bed, reluctantly leaving a sleeping Claire behind and left the room. Unlike the redhead, she hadn't been able to fall asleep and it had slowly begun to drive her crazy. She didn't pass anyone as she made her way through the corridors and up to the deck. The confines of the bedroom walls and the windowless hallways had felt suffocating and she was once again reminded that the <em>Arcadia <em>was a product of the Umbrella Corporation. She couldn't wait until they left this place behind.

Almost bursting through the doors, Alice immediately felt relief at the cold night air hitting her face. She basked in the chill for a moment as she dragged her feet along the open deck. She was halfway to the end when she faintly saw the outline of something headed rapidly in her direction. Squinting her eyes in confusion, it wasn't until the figure was much closer that she realized it was Shep. The dog didn't even slow down as he passed her, but took off in the direction she had just come from. Alice figured that if the dog was outside Seth probably was as well, and though she was a little disappointed that she wasn't alone she thought a distraction was probably exactly what she needed at the moment.

By now her eyes had better adjusted to the darkness and it wasn't too difficult to spot the silhouette of the teenager a little further ahead on the opposite side of the deck. And not feeling any particular rush she took her time making her way towards him, the cold night air had alleviated a lot of her anxiety and she wanted to continue to enjoy it.

"You like being outside?" Alice asked, stopping a few feet behind the teen.

Turning around at the sound of her voice, Seth greeted her with a small smile. "Being here is the first time in years that it's been safe to be outside. I really missed it." As he spoke Shep darted passed them, still at a full run. "Although I don't think I've missed it as much as Shep." Seth chuckled and leaned back against the guard railing. "What about you? You spend a lot of time outside?"

"Yes."

"Any particular reason why?"

Alice's eyes glazed over as she thought over how to answer. "I've been trapped and locked up more times then I care to recount." She replied softly, almost whispering. "The outdoors is the only place to really feel free."

They stood in silence for a long time, Alice watching a stray cloud float in front of the moon as she enjoyed the breeze. Eventually the teen broke the silence. "I wanted to talk to you about something. If you don't mind."

He sounded nervous, and the fidgeting of his hands was a dead giveaway. "K-Mart?" She mused and was somewhat surprised to see him shake his head.

"No, Claire."

"What about her?"

"I want to ask her for permission." He shifted uncomfortably and Alice had a pretty good idea of where this was going. "I want to ask her if it would be alright if I took K-Mart out on a date."

"Don't you think you should have gone to Claire before you kissed K-Mart?"

"She told you guys?" Seth blurted out, now completely flustered.

"She tells Claire everything, and I get the pleasure of being the one Claire vents to."

"Oh, God. Claire hates me doesn't she? I wasn't putting the moves on K-Mart. I never planned for anything like this, it just happened. At first I was happy just to have a friend again but now, things are different. I really like her Alice, and for some reason she feels the same and ..." He had begun to pace, his words falling in quick succession.

Alice decided to stop him before he turned hysterical. "It's ok." She said, stopping the teen with a hand on his shoulder. "I'll help you in any way I can."

"You would?"

"Yes, but you have to swear you won't repeat anything I say, not to anyone." Alice warned and Seth eagerly nodded in agreement. "I don't know how strongly you feel about K-Mart but I do know what it's like to let the person you care about slip away, and I would hate to see that happen to the two of you." She almost winced at how open she was being, but earlier she'd struggled to verbally express her feelings so she thought maybe talking about it would help her in sorting things out. Seth didn't know her very well and that almost made it easier, or maybe it was because she knew he couldn't look at her in judgement.

"When I sent Claire away in that helicopter I thought it was the last time I would ever see her. It was a long time before I was able to find her again. And when I did she didn't recognize me, couldn't remember me at all." Alice hated thinking back to that time. She had been through so much since the outbreak of the virus, but she'd never felt more helpless than when she'd finally tracked down Claire only to have the redhead not remember her at all. "Luckily I got a second chance, and I intend to make the most of it." Alice sighed before continuing. "I know Claire only wants K-Mart to be happy, and we've all seen the way she lights up whenever she's with you."

"Alice, I never knew you of all people could be so sappy." Seth teased, though he was blushing at her words.

The brunette scoffed. "Don't get used to it. I have my moments but luckily they are few and far between." She then gave the teen a playful nudge. "You're the one who's going to turn into a fluffy, romantic mess. K-Mart loves that crap, so if you like her you better be prepared to treat her like a princess."

The grin fell from his face. "Uh, right. I can do that, I think... maybe."

Alice chuckled at seeing him so flustered.

Seth cleared his throat. "So, what should I say to Claire? Her approval means everything to K-Mart."

"Just tell her you really like K-Mart. I promise it will be alright. K has been crushing on you since we brought you on board so Claire's had time to get used to the idea. Just be honest, and don't take no for an answer because Claire will try to intimidate you." Alice wrapped an arm around the teen's shoulders. "Don't worry, Claire is nothing if not fair. She'll give you a chance. But if you hurt K-Mart you'll have the both of us to answer to, got it?"

Seth gulped. "Understood."

"Good, now get to bed. It's really late." She instructed, pushing in the general direction of the door.

He nodded, then Alice heard the teen let out a loud whistle and soon Shep ran up to the pair to lead Seth back inside.

Alice stayed outside for a while longer, wondering how this happened to her. How did she end up like this? When did she become the person who was hopelessly in love and giving advice to teenagers? It wasn't a hard question to answer. Everything had changed for her the moment she met a certain redhead in the middle of the desert. It hadn't been love at first sight, maybe lust, but the attachment she felt for Claire hadn't made itself known until she had decided not to get on the helicopter with the others.

She let out a breath that was a weird mixture between a sigh and a yawn and her feet began to aimlessly lead her around the deck, not paying much attention to where she was going.

From the moment she'd set eyes on the redhead and shaken her hand Alice had felt pulled towards Claire as if there was a magnetic force that existed between them. At first Alice had been certain it was just the physical attraction but the more they talked the more Alice liked the other woman. She had never intended on actually acting on that attraction though, knowing there was a good chance Claire would end up dying and Alice would be left alone again. But Claire had not shared the same reluctance, being one of those live for the moment type of people. Alice vividly remembered one particular day early after they'd met. She'd been riding shotgun in the yellow hummer with K-Mart asleep in the back seat as Claire drove...

_It was unbelievably hot inside the vehicle but that was expected considering it was the middle of the afternoon. Alice's gaze constantly wandered back and forth between watching the horizon and sneaking glances at the redhead. It had only been a few days since Alice had saved the convoy from those birds but it was long enough for her to feel inexplicably drawn to the woman known as Claire Redfield. Despite the peacefulness of the moment Alice didn't feel comfortable where she was seated. She knew she would have been more relaxed riding with Carlos but he had taken LJ with him instead. The problem was that Claire and that kid who followed her everywhere_, _K-Mart, were constantly asking her questions, questions that Alice had no intention of answering_. _She'd felt relieved when the blonde had fallen asleep ten minutes ago but now the silence between her and Claire felt awkward and Alice shifted in her seat_ _trying to at least physically be comfortable._

"_Sorry about K-Mart, she can be quite the chatterbox." Claire apologized, glancing over at Alice._

"_It's fine. I'm just not much of a talker."_

"_That's what Carlos said." The redhead smirked. "He and LJ told us about you, they said you were good in a fight." A little quieter she added, "but they didn't mention all the gifts you have."_

_Alice knew what she was referring to, the psychic powers she'd been struggling to control. "They didn't know. I didn't want them to know."_ _Claire nodded but didn't say anything. "We split up because I didn't want to hurt them, I wasn't sure if I could control it."_

"_But you can control it now right?" Claire asked, her concerned voice causing Alice's gut to clench. _

_The brunette could easily see that in Claire's mind the safety of the convoy was the top priority and knew that her answer would dictate what happened next. If she said no, Alice could expect to be kicked out of the hummer and stand alone in the sand watching the convoy drive away. And she wouldn't blame the redhead for it. What would be the use of keeping her around to fight off the undead if she might accidentally kill them all with abilities she couldn't control?_

_Alice tried to give Claire what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "If I didn't think I could control it now, I wouldn't have stuck around. Don't worry, your people are safe, well safe from me anyway."_

"_Sorry." Claire said sheepishly, focussing her eyes ahead. "I didn't mean to insinuate that you were dangerous or anything."_

"_I am dangerous." Alice clarified._

_But Claire shook her head. "No, I really don't think you are."_

"_That's because you don't know me very well."_

"_Well I'm trying here, but you haven't been very forthcoming with information since you arrived." The redhead sighed in frustration and Alice couldn't help but feel a little guilty. "You know, I didn't just offer to let you stay with us because you saved our lives and can help out in a fight. I also couldn't imagine sending you away, you shouldn't be alone so much."_

"_So you felt sorry for me? Is that it?"_

"_No! God!" She huffed. "Are you always so difficult?" Alice merely shrugged in response. "Aren't you_ _tired of being alone?" __Another shrug._ _"Well I can't imagine why anyone would want to by themselves all the time." Claire continued on, muttering to herself._

"_It's just easier this way." Alice glanced into the back seat to make sure K-Mart was still sleeping before she continued. "Only a few days ago your group lost a lot of people. I've seen enough people die. For me there's no point in getting attached to people you're going to have to eventually shoot in the head."_ _Alice gestured to the back seat. "If she got bitten, could_ _you do it? Would you be able to pull the trigger?"_

"_You think I haven't thought about that? Do you honestly believe there isn't a day that goes by that I haven't considered that possibility?" Claire was speaking so softly that Alice was only just able to hear her, and she watched as the redhead ran a tired hand through her hair. "If that moment ever arrived, I know what I'd have to do, and if things were reversed I know K-Mart would do the right thing too." _

_She cast a glance at Alice and the brunette felt frozen in place, her previous guilt magnified tenfold. Claire actually stopped the SUV and stared at her with Alice unable to tear her own gaze away. _

"_Maybe it is easier for you not to get attached, but it doesn't work that way for me. That kid in the back seat and everyone else in the convoy; they are what keeps me motivated._ _I wake up everyday so I can continue on keeping them alive for as long as I can. And God forbid even if I do have to bury K-Mart in the ground one day, I will at least be able to look back on all this time we had together and be happy that I knew her."_

_Claire started driving again and Alice sat completely speechless and feeling like utter shit. And while Claire didn't so much as glance at her for the remainder of the afternoon, Alice continued to watch her unabashedly_. _Maybe the redhead was right. It would hurt to lose someone you cared about, but it sucked beyond belief to not care at all._

Alice came out of her reverie to find herself standing in front of her own bedroom door, but she didn't enter the room right away. Just thinking about that day long ago still managed to make her feel like shit for being such an asshole. That night she had managed to scrape together something akin enough to an apology and she remembered that feeling of relief when Claire had accepted it. They had stayed up for hours that night, sitting by the fire just talking. She started to let Claire get to know her and the normalcy of it all had allowed her to momentarily forget about the undead, the Umbrella Corporation, everything.

Alice shook her head, trying to return to the present as she opened the door and stepped into the room. Claire was still there but she was no longer sleeping. The redhead was sitting on the end of the bed fully dressed with one boot half on, but she kicked it away when Alice entered the room.

"I woke up and you weren't here. I was going to go look for you." She explained, standing up.

Alice quickly moved across the room and pulled the redhead into a tight embrace.

"Alice!" Claire shrieked. "You're freezing!"

But Alice didn't let go. "I love you." She mumbled into red hair and a moment later felt Claire squeezing her just as tightly. She stood there for a long time and Claire didn't object, she just ran her hands slowly up and down the brunette's back soothingly.

"Are you alright?" Claire asked when Alice finally released her far enough that they stood eye to eye.

"Yes." Alice replied absently as she gently traced Claire's face with her fingertips.

"Are you sure? Cause you're acting like you haven't seen me in months."

Alice dropped her hand. "Sorry. I'm being weird aren't I? It's just, I love you."

Claire smiled. "I know you do."

Alice looked relieved. "Good." She nodded to herself and repeated. "Good." She still wasn't able to fully express how she felt, but knowing that Claire seemed to understand was good enough for now.

"Is that all?"

"Yeah."

"Ok," Claire whispered and leaned in to kiss the brunette. "Now come back to bed and I'll warm you up, you really are freezing!"

Alice nodded again and followed the redhead, knowing she would not have anymore problems falling asleep that night.


	13. Chapter 13

Claire and Chris had decided the best way to execute the relocation was to do it in shifts. The first group would consist of the two Redfield households in addition to six other residences, and over the next few days everyone else would make their way inland.

"Got all your stuff K?" Alice asked the teen from the doorway of her room.

"Yeah, not like I had much anyway." All of her clothes and jewellery easily fit in a small back pack the teen had picked up somewhere.

"None of us do." The brunette replied with a shrug. "The others are ready when you are, you coming?"

K-Mart took one last look around the room that had been her home the last few months. She would miss the familiarity it had given her the last several months, but she was excited for the future. Ever since Claire had found her hiding out in that store, all she had wanted was a chance to start a new life. And now that they had a new place to live, safe from all the dangers of the world she was finally getting that chance. "Yeah, let's go home."

Alice smiled at her and the two made their way down to the boat where the others who were moving that day were already assembled. Luther and Chris had already taken a group over and Luther could be seen bringing the boat back to pick up the rest. The dingy would remain with the ship in case there was an emergency and those still on board needed to get in touch with Claire.

"All aboard who's going ashore!" Luther called as he threw the line for Alice to hold while the others loaded the boat. Ten others boarded the vessel before Claire jumped on, followed by K-Mart. Shep barked as Seth picked him up, passing him to the redhead to put down. The teen then reached out a hand and Claire helped him climb into the boat, followed finally by Alice.

Claire and Alice went to join Luther at the controls while K-Mart led Seth over to the edge of the boat and the two of them sat down together before Luther started the engine and pulled away from the _Arcadia_. They were half way to land when a tall boy with messy blond hair approached the two teens, sitting down on K-Mart's other side.

"Hey K-Mart." He greeted, completely ignoring Seth.

"Hi Tim," she replied in a friendly tone. "Happy to finally be off that ship?"

"Yeah, life was getting almost dull there for a while." He scooted closer to the blonde and K-Mart in turn leaned closer to Seth, realizing what he was up to and not feeling at all comfortable. "Listen, after you get all settled do you want to come hang out with me?" He glanced over to Seth before turning his attention back to K-Mart. "We could go out for a walk? See the landscape? What do you say?"

"Thanks for the offer Tim, but I'm really not interested." She said gently and unconsciously shifted closer to Seth.

"Why not?" He asked, his smile was gone and his voice was a little sharper.

"There's someone else I'd rather spend my time with." Was all she responded. She could see Tim was getting angry and didn't want things to escalate.

But the other boy was not easily deterred. "Who?" Tim demanded, standing up in front of them. K-Mart just glanced at Seth but didn't answer. Tim followed her line of sight and fully took in the teenager sitting beside her. His frustration at her rejection turning into disbelief. "That guy? He's blind K-Mart! What can he give you that I can't? Or do you just feel sorry for him?"

Seth stood up. "Why don't you just leave us alone. She said she's not interested, so let it go."

"Who's gonna stop me? You? You can't even see me!" He waved his hand over Seth's eyes but gasped when Seth caught his arm mid-movement.

"I really don't like it when people wave their hands in my face. Now, I would really appreciate it if you left us alone."

K-Mart looked like a deer caught in head lights as she watched the scene unfold before her. Tim tried to shake himself from Seth's grasp and soon the two were scuffling, each trying to put the other in a headlock. But Tim was bigger and as he was finally able to free himself he shoved Seth away. K-Mart screamed as Seth stumbled backwards, tripped over the side of the boat and fell into the water.

* * *

><p>Claire was looking over her shoulder having heard Tim's raised voice, and K-Mart screaming when suddenly she saw Seth falling into the water before she could go over to investigate. "Luther stop the boat!" she ordered before running to the back with Alice on her heels.<p>

"Seth!" K-Mart screamed looking over the side but the boy was no longer in sight.

"What happened?" Claire demanded.

"Tim, he pushed Seth but he tripped on the side and fell in the water!" She cried, her tear filled eyes still darting over the water for any sign of Seth.

Claire was searching the water as well and it was almost a minute before she saw his body finally surface about twenty feet away. "There!" she yelled. "Take this," she took her gun out and coat off, passing them to the sobbing girl before jumping into the freezing water. Never in her life had she felt so cold. The water was piercing her skin through her clothes and every breath she took felt like torture. Seth wasn't too far away, but it still took her a few minutes to reach him through the rough current of the ocean. When she finally grabbed a hold of him the boy was shivering, trying desperately to keep his head above water. "It's ok Seth, I got you." Claire wasn't sure he understood what she said, given the difficulty she had speaking, her words falling out through chattering teeth. She wrapped an arm around him while treading water, looking back to the boat she saw Alice throwing her a rope. The redhead pulled him over to where it landed, grabbing it the two were immediately being pulled back to the boat by Alice and Luther. "Take him" she instructed pushing Seth up into Luther's grasp then felt familiar arms dragging her into the boat.

Claire and Seth both lay on the boat floor, shivering violently. Luther shucked his coat off and laid it on the teen while K-Mart held him as close as possible, using her body heat to warm him up and Shep actually laid on top of the teen's legs. Alice had removed her coat just as quickly, covering the redhead with it and pulling her into her arms. "Get us to shore Luther, now!" she ordered and his only reply was darting back to the controls and restarting the engine.

Chris had come down to the water to greet them and help unload the boat. When the boat was as close as it could get he waded out to it and was shocked to see his sister and Seth on the floor soaking wet, their teeth chattering. Alice stood and picked up the redhead, carrying her over to Chris. "Take her, your house is closest. Get them warmed up, I'll be there after I take care of something." She handed Claire off to him and stood back as Luther came over to pick up Seth and following after Chris with K-Mart and Shep trailing closely behind.

She turned around to address those still on board. "Everyone off." She instructed and they obeyed in silence, but when Tim tried to leave she grabbed him by the collar of his jacket. "Except you, you're staying with me."

The image of Claire jumping into the water and shivering on the floor of the boat replayed over and over in Alice's mind and she consciously was trying to keep her anger at bay. As far as she was concerned, the only thing keeping this boy alive was the fact that he was human, but more importantly, that Claire would be upset if Alice actually killed him.

When everyone else was out of sight she stared at the teen her eyes boring into his. He gulped in fear but kept his mouth shut. Before he even knew what was happening Alice had tripped him with her left foot and slammed him down on the boat floor with her right hand. Kneeling over him she kept him pinned down. "We could have lost two people today thanks to you. If you touch anyone in the village again the undead will be the least of your worries because I will make you wish you hadn't lived to see the new world." She watched the fear in his eyes with a smug satisfaction but her expression never faltered. "Do we understand each other?"

Tim nodded vigorously. "Yes ma'am." he stuttered. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for him to fall."

"Well he did, and you're lucky Claire got him back. If she hadn't I would have let K-Mart kill you herself. Now get home and I'll let Claire decide how to punish you later."

"Yes ma'am." Alice released him and he threw himself into the water, running to the shore as fast as his legs would carry him.

Alice secured the boat before running toward the village. She went directly to Chris and Luther's house to see how Claire and Seth were doing. Opening the front door she heard movement in the next room. Entering the sitting room she saw Luther hunched over the fireplace adding logs to the slowly growing fire. The furniture had been pushed out of the way to leave an open space on the floor which was littered with pillows and the two freezing survivors had been laid on top. Chris taking their wet clothes and exchanging them for blankets.

"Luther if you know what's good for you, you'd better not turn around." Claire muttered from the floor through chattered teeth, currently only clad in her underwear. Seth was already wrapped in blankets. Alice heard movement behind her and turned to see K-Mart enter the room fully loaded with extra blankets and towels.

"They're going to be okay, right Chris?" The teen asked with concern as she draped blankets over Claire. She'd managed to stop crying but the tears were ready to fall again if she was not reassured everything would be alright.

"As long as we can keep them awake, if hypothermia sets in we could be in trouble." A glance at Seth showed the teen nodding off. "Seth! You gotta stay awake man. Come on." He shook the boy a little and lightly slapped his face. "Alice keep Claire awake, K look after Seth. Luther and I are going to go get some more firewood." The two men left the room and headed back outside.

Alice took her place next to the redhead, talking to her in a low voice to keep her engaged. "You scared the shit of out me." Her voice a mixture of relief and distress. Watching the redhead jump into the freezing waters had been the most nerve-racking experience of Alice's life. She had been more than tempted to jump in as well but she'd somehow managed to keep calm enough to toss out a line and pull the pair back to the boat.

"Sssorry." Claire slurred, reaching up with a shaky hand to cup the brunette's cheek. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Is this how you feel whenever I do something reckless and stupid?" Alice murmured.

Claire laughed a little. "Only every time."

Alice held the hand against her cheek. "Then I promise never to do it again."

"I'll believe that when I don't see it." Claire then looked over to check on the teen shivering next to her. "You ok kid?"

Seth managed to calm his chattering teeth enough to answer. "Yeah. Thanks Claire, you saved my life."

"Don't sweat it, happy to help." She tried to act nonchalant but shivered some more and Alice wrapped an arm around her. "So Alice, did you make that kid shit his pants or what?"

"I didn't check his pants, but I did talk to him. I don't think he'll be a problem again, but you can decide how to punish him. Personally, I vote we make him spend a day attached to Luther."

The others chuckled, two of them through chattered teeth. "I think I'll worry about it when I'm not feeling so cold." the redhead replied. "But what I do want to know is what exactly happened."

K-Mart filled in the two older women on what had occurred on the boat and the more she revealed the angrier Claire seemed to become.

"So, just so I'm clear," the redhead said when K-Mart finished the story. "First he hits on you, then he won't take no for an answer, then he pokes fun at Seth for being blind before pushing him off the boat?" The blonde nodded, and no one was surprised when Claire immediately tried to stand up.

"Where do you think you're going?" Alice asked, gently holding the redhead to the floor.

"To kick that kid's ass." Claire responded as if it should have been obvious.

"I thought you were going to worry about him later? Right now, I need you to focus on not getting sick." The brunette's words were firm but her eyes were pleading with the redhead. "I promise you can beat him up later if you still want to, but right now you need to stay here. Please."

Claire could only let out a deep sigh before nodding her head and laying back down completely. "Alright, but only because I'm too exhausted to actually stand." She muttered, but that was good enough for Alice.

When Chris and Luther returned, the fire provided the room with enough heat that Claire and Seth were dry and warmed up within a couple of hours. After checking appendages to make sure blood circulation was normal the two had been able to put on some dry clothes. Of course, Claire had forced K-Mart and Luther to leave the room, and Alice and Chris had helped the two get dressed before returning to their respective spots on the floor. Both Seth and Claire were completely spent of all energy, too tired to move any further than necessary, but still not allowed to sleep.

"You two should stay by the fire tonight, just in case." Chris recommended later that night. "It's been enough time that you should be safe from hypothermia and should get some sleep." He was sitting in a comfortable chair near the fireplace. "If you two want to go home I'll keep an eye on them." He addressed K-Mart and Alice.

"I'm not going anywhere." Alice informed him. After such a close call there was no way she would be leaving that night without Claire, and if she were completely honest with herself she knew even if she did leave she wouldn't be able to sleep without the redhead lying next to her.

"I'm staying too." K-Mart added, motioning to Alice and Claire. "There's no way I'm spending my first night in Alaska alone in an empty house.

Chris almost seemed to be expecting this response. "Fine, sleep on the floor. I'm going to bed, goodnight." He left the room shaking his head at their stubbornness.

Alice settled down on Claire's left side and the redhead threw a blanket over her and offered one of her extra pillows. Before laying down to sleep the redhead gave the teens a suspicious glance. "K, you're sleeping next to me" she instructed, her tone leaving no room for argument.

K-Mart just rolled her eyes but moved onto Seth's other side so she was between him and Claire. Seth offered her half of his blankets but she only accepted one, and a single pillow. "Goodnight Alice, goodnight Claire." she said while giving the redhead a hug. "I'm glad you're alright." Then she leaned over Seth's lying form, she ran her hand through his hair again before giving him a gentle kiss. "Goodnight Seth." When she pulled back she moved a suitable distance away then snuggled into her blanket and pillow, her back to the redhead.

Claire was still sitting up and had watched the exchange between the teens. Almost as if he knew she was watching, Seth cleared his throat before muttering "goodnight Claire," and closing his eyes. The redhead could feel Alice shaking beside her trying to contain her laughter.

"You shouldn't be laughing, we're adults having a sleep over." Alice just shook her head and pulled Claire into her arms.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil**

**AN:** I decided that since you've waited so long for an update I would give you two chapters to read. Here's the second, I hope you enjoy it.**  
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* * *

><p>Alice was the first to awake the next morning. She found herself in the usual position, arms wrapped around the redhead, only instead of in bed they were on the floor. Then she recalled the previous day and raised her head to check on the teens. She smiled at the sight. Sometime during the night, whether on purpose or by instinct, K-Mart and Seth had reached out for the other and in the space between them their hands were gently clasped together.<p>

Alice's smile turned into a frown as she observed them all on the floor. Yesterday had been too close a call. And for something not related to the undead? It was just unacceptable. She gently stroked the other woman's hair as she tried desperately not to think about how badly things could have turned out. The brunette had done her best to shrug off the events of the previous day and had been well distracted in trying to keep Claire from getting sick, but now in the cold light of a new day things were finally being put into perspective.

She could easily replay the previous morning over and over in her mind but the outcome was always the same. Alice was always one step behind the redhead and the image of Claire jumping into the freezing waters was not one that would soon leave her. Idly wondering if this was how Claire felt every time she risked her own life Alice made a silent promise to never be so selfish again. If that feeling of helplessness and powerless she had felt yesterday was the same thing she forced upon Claire every other day then Alice couldn't feel anything but guilt. The only small consolation she had was at least things yesterday had turned out alright. Claire had been able to rescue the blind teen and both of them were going to be fine.

Alice knew that if things were reversed she would have done the exact same so she wasn't angry at Claire for risking her life, but it was in a moment like this that she remembered why it was she had been so reluctant to start caring about people again. However there was not a doubt in Alice's mind that it was all worth it. Maybe it was cheesy but since she and Claire had gotten together Alice had never been happier. But at the same time she realized with painful clarity just how devastated she would be if anything did ever happen to the redhead.

Looking at Claire always stirred multiple emotions within the brunette; love, peacefulness, attraction, the need to protect, and sometimes even confusion. And though occasionally it could all be a little overwhelming if Claire was ever taken away Alice knew she would probably turn into an emotionless void. Shaking off those dark thoughts and rolling over Alice lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling as she was lost in thought. At her shift in position she felt the redhead stirring beside her and Alice welcomed the distraction. "Morning Claire." She greeted and leaned down to give her a slow kiss which was eagerly returned as the redhead fully awoke. When Alice pulled away blue eyes opened to meet her. "How are you feeling?"

Claire looked a little groggy and seemed to think it over for a minute before finally answering. "Heavy."

"What?" Alice was now wearing a confused grin, she had no idea what Claire was trying to say but watching the redhead attempt to articulate what she was feeling was sort of adorable.

Claire yawned loudly and winced as she tried to stretch out her limbs. "I'm cold, tired, and a little sore."

"And that makes you feel heavy?" Alice still didn't quite understand, but she was trying not to laugh.

"Yes!" The redhead insisted. She reached up and felt the tangles in her long hair. "Ugh! I must look even worse than I feel."

Alice just smiled as she moved the redhead's hand away. "You look beautiful." And she meant it. Even when Claire was looking a little worse for wear after the ordeal of the previous day, she was still the most amazing thing Alice had ever seen.

"You have to say that because you love me."

The brunette shrugged. "That doesn't make it any less true." She leaned in until her lips were right next to the redhead's ear. "You will always be beautiful to me Claire, no matter what." She whispered.

"You promise?" Claire sighed.

Alice placed several soft kisses along Claire's neck before answering. "Yeah, I promise." She kissed the redhead's lips deeply, making sure Claire believed her words.

When Alice pulled back and sat up, Claire glanced over at the teenagers on the floor as she remembered that they weren't alone. "Great," she muttered. "Just fucking adorable. They were already nauseatingly cute together and now it's only going to get worse."

"At least they're only holding hands." Alice quipped. "Could have been a lot worse." Claire just glared at her in response.

"Just don't give them any ideas." Anything else she was going to add was cut off as her stomach growled loudly.

Alice chuckled. "I guess we can add hungry to your growing list of symptoms."

* * *

><p>Claire had wanted to get up and out of the house but the others wouldn't hear of it. "I have to make sure the move is going according to plan." the redhead insisted.<p>

"We will take care of everything." Alice informed her. "You are staying right where you are, you need to get some more rest. Chris and I will take care of everything, and K-Mart is staying here to look after the both of you." Then she motioned for the blonde to follow her out of the room. She placed a hand on K-Mart's shoulder. "Don't let her get up, actually, don't let her out of your sight." she amended.

The teen nodded. "Don't worry, I got this." K-Mart was more than aware of how stubborn the redhead could be and was mentally preparing herself for a long day.

Alice offered a consoling smile. "When Chris and I get back we can take her home, that should make her less cranky."

Then they heard Seth laughing from the other room, followed by Claire's voice. "What? What are they saying?" Alice and K-Mart reentered the room, "were you talking about me?" She demanded through narrowed eyes.

The brunette just shook her head. "I was just giving K-Mart some instructions. When I get back I'll take you home, ok?" She leaned down to kiss the top of Claire's head. "Get some rest or I'll make you stay inside tomorrow too." The redhead huffed but eventually laid back down on the makeshift bed. Alice gave K-Mart a final nod before exiting the room and leaving the house.

"I'm not even tired." the redhead grumbled from her place on the floor. "What are we suppose to do all day?"

"You could read? Or we could play a game? Or talk?" K-Mart suggested.

"A game? We don't have any games, what are we suppose to play, I spy?" Then she saw K-Mart glaring at her and realized her mistake. She glanced over at Seth. "Oh, sorry." she apologized patting his arm uncertainly.

"It's ok trust me, I won't be offended if you talk about sight." He reassured the redhead, then a mischievous expression crossed his face. "We could play the blind version of I spy, if you think you can handle it?" He challenged the redhead.

She smirked, "I can handle anything. How do you play?"

"Pick an object in the room, then describe it to me; shape, texture but colour doesn't count, and I have to guess what it is. What do you think?"

"I think I'm about to kick your ass at your own game."

K-Mart laughed at their interaction, happy to see two of her favourite people getting along so well.

Alice and Chris returned hours later. Upon entering the sitting room they saw Claire asleep on the floor where she had left her as Seth and K-Mart were quietly having a thumb war. The blonde looked up at hearing them come in, and shook her head with a smirk. "That one fell asleep twenty minutes into blind I spy and hasn't stirred all day."

Alice quirked an eyebrow. "Blind I spy? Do I even want to know?" The teen just shrugged in response. "We brought some food, you two go ahead and I'll wake her up." Chris left for the kitchen and K-Mart dragged Seth along a moment later.

Alice knelt down on the floor and reached out to shake Claire gently. "Claire, wake up."

Claire mumbled incoherently before her eyes opened, she then sat up and cleared her throat. "I was just resting my eyes, you're back already?"

"Yes, and your eyes should be well rested since you slept all day." The brunette responded and Claire's eyes went wide.

"All day? No wonder I have such a headache, too much sleep." She ran a hand through her red locks.

Alice stood and helped the redhead to her feet. "Aside from the headache how are you feeling? Still heavy?" Claire then shrieked as the brunette quickly picked her up bridal style. "You don't feel heavy to me, well maybe a little." Alice joked, pretending to struggle under the redhead's weight.

Claire glared at the comment. "Alice! Put me down, right now."

She obeyed but the playful smirk remained in place. Alice knew Claire was about to berate her for her actions so before the redhead could speak she quickly crashed their lips together, and as expected Claire did not resist. In fact, it seemed Claire had decided to enact revenge in a different way. She ran her hands through Alice's dark hair as she slipped her tongue into her mouth. And Alice certainly wasn't complaining when Claire let one hand slowly began trailing from the place in her hair down gently along her neck, it was inches away from her chest when the redhead pulled away effectively cutting off all physical contact.

Alice's frustrated groan was met by Claire's triumphant smirk. "I guess I deserve that." She muttered to herself.

Claire took some pity on her girlfriend, taking Alice's hand and giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "Tell you what, if you're really good, when we get home we can try out our new bedroom with something other than sleeping."

Alice suddenly couldn't wait to get to their new home.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil**

**AN: **I really want to thank everyone for their kind reviews, it really motivated me to get this next update out as quickly as possible.

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><p>"This house is disgusting." K-Mart complained as she used a dirty rag to wipe off an even filthier fireplace.<p>

"You're not allowed to complain K, this house was your idea." Claire retorted from across the room where she clearing various knick knacks off the wall shelves and throwing them carelessly into boxes on the floor. She surveyed the sitting room and huffed at the amount of work they still had left to do. Every wall space in the room was covered with objects. The shelves the redhead was currently de-cluttering were crammed with dog sledding trophies dating back over twenty years. The other walls in the room all proudly displayed decorative plates, some featuring animals, others showed landscapes, there was even one dedicated to every president of the United States, and they all were all behind varying depths of cobwebs and dust. "I never understood why some people felt so compelled to collect decorative plates." Claire commented. "Where do you even find that kind of thing anything?"

"No idea," a voice answered from the doorway, signalling Alice's entrance into the room. Claire had entitled her in charge of all things heavy lifting and thus had spent the majority of the morning moving furniture throughout the house. The redhead smiled when she felt arms wrapping around her from behind as Alice dropped a quick kiss on her cheek and rested her chin on Claire's shoulder. "So, what else would you like me to do?"

Claire's grin brightened at the words. Alice was always so willing and eager to do anything she asked and in situations like this, with the house so disgusting, Claire had never been more grateful. Whereas she and K-Mart had been bemoaning all the work, Alice had silently put herself to task and gladly followed all of Claire's instructions without complaint. It was one of the things she loved the most about the other woman, perhaps because it was so different from her own behaviour. And Claire knew it was Alice's way of conveying affection, the brunette sometimes struggled to verbally communicate how she felt but when it came to actions, that was Alice's love language.

"Hmm, well I have these wonderful boxes filled with dog sledding trophies, do you know if there's room in the basement for them for now?" Claire felt Alice tense behind her, it was hardly noticeable and Claire probably would never have known if they hadn't been standing so close. "What is it?"

Alice let her go and Claire immediately turned to face her. The brunette seemed to be choosing her words carefully. "Have you been to the basement Claire?"

"No, why?" When Alice didn't reply right away Claire grew frustrated. "What is it?" She looked to K-Mart but the teen was purposely not looking their way, seemingly engrossed with wiping the no longer present dust off the fireplace mantle. She turned back to Alice and fixed her with and intense gaze. "Tell me, or am I going to have to look for myself?"

"It's just a little messy that's all." Alice finally admitted.

"Messy like in here?" Claire asked, gesturing around to the junk covering nearly every surface that she and K-Mart had not yet touched.

Alice quickly shook her head. "No, nothing like in here." Claire felt momentarily relieved until she heard Alice add, "it's worse."

"How much worse?"

There was loud knocking at the front door just then and K-Mart almost ran out of the room to answer it, jumping at the opportunity to escape.

"Forget it, I'm going to have a look for myself." Claire said and Alice, knowing better than to try and stop her followed the redhead out of the room, through the hall and down the stairs.

Claire almost had a heart attack when she reached the bottom. Alice had by no means been exaggerating when she said it was worse. The redhead couldn't even see the floor of the basement as absolutely every inch of space was occupied with stuff. Boxes, bags, furniture, and God knows what else was all squeezed into the room. Claire couldn't even tell how big the space was suppose to be as she couldn't see the wall opposite through the mountain of stacked items.

"K-Mart!" Claire yelled, trying to go back up the stairs but Alice stood in the way. "I think I'm going to kill her Alice, her and Seth for sticking us with this nightmare of a house."

The brunette rubbed a reassuring hand on her shoulder but it did little to calm Claire's frustrations. "Claire, this house is our home now, I don't think you should call it a nightmare."

She looked at Alice incredulously. "I'm not worried about hurting the house's feelings Alice. This..." she waved her hands wildly at the mess before them, "this is going to take days if not weeks to clean up."

Alice just shrugged. "So? We have the rest of our lives to spend here, at least we'll have something to do."

Claire's anger lessened slightly. She supposed the brunette was right, now that everyone was safe they had the rest of their lives to think about and this mess wasn't that big of a deal compared to everything else they had been through. "Alice stop making sense, it makes it harder for me to be mad."

"Why do you need to be mad? I'll admit it's a total turn on but I don't really like to see you upset, especially over something as unimportant as this."

Claire's frustrated scowl quickly turned into a devilish smirk. "It's a turn on eh?"

"Oh yeah." Alice returned the grin and took a step closer to the redhead, grabbing her hips with both hands and pulling Claire closer. "I like angry Claire, happy Claire, badass Claire, tired Claire, hungry Claire, all of it, but out of all of them I think confused Claire is my absolute favourite."

She knew what Alice was doing, the brunette was very skilled when it came to distracting her whenever she was angry or upset. Claire secretly loved that Alice always focussed on calming her down first before dealing with the actual problem. And Claire was more than happy to play along with her current distraction as her previous anger slipped away completely. "What's so great about confused Claire?" She asked, putting on her best furrowed brow look.

Alice chuckled and reached up to smooth out the wrinkles on Claire's forehead. "Confused Claire is probably more adorable then a basket of puppies."

Claire wasn't sure if she liked being referred to as adorable but if it was Alice saying it, maybe it was ok. "I didn't know you thought anything was adorable."

"Only you, but I could use a whole list of other adjectives to describe you as well."

Claire wrapped her arms around Alice's neck and was rewarded with hands appearing on her hips again. "I think I'd like to hear this list."

"Hmm, let me think." Alice pretended to be thinking rather hard, but Claire suspected the brunette already knew what she was going to say. "In addition to adorable? I think I would add intelligent, brave, easily annoyed.." Claire lightly smacked her for the comment "..compassionate, forgiving, sexy.." she winked at the redhead and Claire rolled her eyes. "Do you want me to go on, because I could easily think of a million more."

"No, you can tell me the rest later; right now I want you to shut up and kiss me."

And just like with Claire's every other instruction, Alice happily obeyed. Claire felt Alice's hands move across her back as they kissed and she easily pressed the other woman against the wall of the stairway landing as her own hands tangled in dark hair. She moaned as Alice slipped her tongue into her mouth and eagerly met it with her own. Alice's hands were just beginning to work under her shirt when they were interrupted by the reappearance of K-Mart.

"Are you guys down there!" The blonde called from the top of the stairs.

Claire somehow managed to detach herself from Alice, and let out a frustrated groan. "Yes!" she called up the stairs.

There was a short pause before the teen timidly called out again. "Are you having sex down there?"

"No! We'll be up in a minute K." The redhead huffed then dropped her head into Alice's shoulder. "How does she always know?" Her voice was muffled but she knew Alice could still hear.

Alice wrapped her arms around the redhead in a loose hug. "I don't know, she's a sneaky one." She pressed a soft kiss to Claire's temple. "Come on, even if it is her fault I don't think we should make her do all the cleaning up there by herself."

"Fine, but you're all mine later."

"Already looking forward to it." Alice whispered in reply before dropping her arms and letting the redhead go.

Claire wasn't happy about it, but she pulled away and taking Alice's hand, led them up the stairs and back into the sitting room. K-Mart had finished with the fireplace and seemed to be thinking about what would be the best way to start taking the plates down without getting her hands dirty.

"Good job picking this house for us K, the basement is a dream." Claire teased, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You're not mad?"

"Oh, I was mad alright. But Alice was able to give me some, uh, perspective so you get to live another day."

"So I'm not in trouble?" The blonde looked slightly relieved when Claire shook her head, but as she stood before them fidgeting with her hands it was evident the teen was still nervous about something. "Uh, that was Seth at the door. He was wondering if I could go out with him tonight, like on a date. Would that be ok?"

Claire didn't answer right away. She'd been internally preparing herself for this moment for a long time, and after the horribly awkward conversation she'd had with Seth earlier in the week Claire knew he'd be asking K-Mart out sooner rather than later. But no matter how much she knew it was coming, nothing had prepared her for what it would actually feel like, it was all too unsettling for the redhead.

Alice seemed to sense her hesitation because a moment later Claire felt the brunette squeeze the hand they still had interlaced. She glanced over to see Alice offer a small nod of encouragement, and Claire sighed loudly as she finally answered the teen.

"Yes, you can go out tonight K. But I do have some conditions."

"Anything." K-Mart was nodding eagerly, quick to agree.

"You can't stay out too late, and you and Seth are not to wander off. And I mean it, you set one foot out of this settlement and I won't let you leave the house again until you're thirty. Do you understand me?"

K-Mart was bouncing on the balls of her feet excitedly, not at all phased by the redhead's threat. "Yes Claire, I promise we won't go wandering off. Thank you so much!" The blonde then threw herself across the room, barrelling into the pair and wrapping them in an awkward hug. When she let them go and stepped away the excitement on her face was replaced with a look of panic. "You two have to help me."

"With what?" asked Claire, completely confused. She loved K-Mart but sometimes the girl drove her crazy with her short attention span and the way her emotions could change in an instant.

"I'm going on a date, like a real date and I don't have anything to wear!" The teen answered, and her attempt at pacing the room was awkward as she had to continually move around boxes and objects scattered across the floor.

Claire watched her blankly, while Alice was laughing. "That's what got your panties in a bunch?" the brunette asked, but stopped laughing when Claire glared in her direction. Alice cleared her throat. "He's blind K, it doesn't matter what you wear."

"It matters to me!" the teen insisted. "Just because he can't see, I shouldn't put in any effort into my appearance? This is my first date. It's the only first date I'm ever going to have and I want to do things right."

"You could have other first dates K, you know we like Seth, but there's other guys here if your feelings ever change." Claire spoke cautiously, not wanting to upset the blonde further.

"That's not it," the teen waved dismissively still pacing the room. "I don't want to have another first date, not with anyone else."

The redhead coughed. "Yes, well let's take this slowly ok? This is only a first date, not your wedding day. If you want to look nice, we'll help you." K-Mart stopped pacing and smiled at the two women.

"We don't have a lot of time!" She began to look panicked again so Claire led her over to the small couch, shoving aside a pile of old magazines and sat her down, leaving both hands on her shoulders to keep the teen in place.

"Calm down K, we have plenty of time." She said gently and waited for K-Mart to take a few deep breaths before speaking again. "Frankly, I don't think you even need me for this. Between you and Alice the pair of you can find anything."

"I want your help Claire. Your opinion matters to me."

The redhead smiled, "ok, I guess we can forget about this mess for a while. But when it's time to clear out the basement, remember you owe me for this."

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><p>"You ready kid?" Luther called from the other side of the door.<p>

"I think so." Seth responded as he attempted to smooth out his shirt, but not knowing if it was actually working.

"Well then get your ass out here so we can take a look at you." Luther was getting rather impatient. The teen had been in the room for over an hour and Luther had no clue why it was taking so long.

The door opened and Seth stepped out dressed in jeans and a light blue dress shirt with a slightly too large black suit jacket that Luther had found. And of course sporting his shades, which he rarely took off aside from when he was sleeping. "Thanks for helping me get something to wear Luther."

"No problem." Luther fidgeted with the teen's jacket and readjusted his hair in a few places before stepping back, satisfied with the look they had created. "You look great kid. Not as good as I do of course, but we can't all be superstars."

"I'll have to take your word for it since I can't see you myself."

Suddenly Chris appeared next to Luther in the hall, "take my word for it, when it comes to Luther you're not missing out on much."

"Jealous?" Luther asked, but Chris didn't answer. The two men shared a look before he spoke again. "Listen Seth, before you leave we need to talk to you about something."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Maybe he should sit down?" Chris suggested, looking uncomfortable.

"Why? What do you need to tell me?" Seth had no idea what was going on but took a seat on the edge of his bed and the two men entered the room and stood in front of him.

"Did your parents ever give you the talk?" Luther asked, a slight strain in his voice as if he were unsure about the wording.

The teen looked confused. "The talk? What talk?" When neither offered further explanation he added: "Just spit it out!"

There was a long, uncomfortable pause for almost five minutes. Luther and Chris kept looking at each other, silently daring the other to say something.

Seth was getting frustrated at their behaviour. He didn't understand what they were getting at and they were wasting time. "We'll if you aren't going to say anything, I need to go. Claire will hate me if I'm late picking up K-Mart." He said as he stood up to leave.

"Don't have sex with her!" Luther suddenly blurted.

"Real smooth man." Chris commented, running a hand over his short hair. "This is not going well at all."

Finally things were making sense to Seth. "Oh, I get it. You two wanted to talk to me about sex, how... uncomfortable." he finished with a frown. "Well, if you two are done playing dad I think I'll go now." He said as he moved towards the door.

"Wait, what about our talk?" Luther protested. Despite how they were confronting the issue, he wanted to get this conversation out of the way now.

Seth turned around near the door to face them. "Tell you what, I'll let you guys figure out what you want to say and listen when you're ready. Maybe you should practise telling each other first, because that would be a hundred times more awkward then when you tell it to me." He grabbed his walking stick from its spot next to the door.

"What about tonight?" Chris asked, his face was flushed red from the turn this conversation had taken.

"I promise I'm not even thinking about having sex tonight, or tomorrow, or the day after." He said holding up his right hand as if taking an oath. "Do you honestly think I'm crazy? With Claire and Alice around it would be suicide to even attempt to try anything with K-Mart." He was quiet for a moment. "I know Luther thinks it's sappy but I want to do things right, and I don't want things to move too quickly. I'm happy where we are at the moment, I don't need or want anything more right now, and I doubt K-Mart feels any different."

"Do we still have to give him the talk then?" Luther whispered to Chris.

"Absolutely," Seth cut in. "I don't know anything about sex, so you two had better get your shit together." He laughed as he left the room.

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><p>"Did I make myself clear?"<p>

K-Mart rolled her eyes for what felt like the millionth time in the last twenty minutes. "Yes Claire, you've made it crystal clear. You don't have anything to worry about though. Just because I'm seventeen doesn't mean I plan on having sex. Besides, Seth is too terrified of you to ever try anything."

"Smart boy. He should be very scared of us." She said smugly, glancing over at Alice.

"Oh, he's not scared of Alice, just you." the teen said offhandedly.

Claire was taken aback. "What? Everyone's scared of Alice!"

"Thanks a lot." The brunette said from her place on the couch next to K-Mart as Claire paced in front of them, muttering to herself.

"You know what I mean," she replied distractedly. "What did I do to scare him? I've always been nice to him, right?" She looked to the couch for confirmation and Alice was the one brave enough to answer.

"It's not that you haven't been nice, you've just also been..." she trailed off.

"Mama bear protective," the teen finished.

Claire stood with arms crossed over her chest, "sorry if I demand he treat you with respect."

Alice stood from the couch and crossed over to the redhead, pulling her into a hug. "It's not a bad thing. Him being scared of you means we can trust him with K-Mart and not have to worry." When she pulled back from Claire she shrugged her shoulders casually. "Plus, I already talked to him, said I would kill him if he hurt her."

"You do that but I'm the one he's scared of?"

"It's because you wouldn't kill him that makes you so scary." K-Mart piped up. "At least, that's what I think."

Then there was a knock on the door, and K-Mart jumped up from the couch in a flash.

"You stay here, I'll get it." Claire said before K-Mart could leave the room. The teen pouted but stayed where she was as the redhead left the room to answer the door. As expected, Seth was standing on the other side when she opened it. "You're late," she said cooly.

"Sorry Claire, your brother and Luther tried to talk to me about sex and it didn't go very well." He answered and the redhead blanched at his blunt reply.

"Don't have sex tonight!" She blurted after a few seconds of stunned silence.

Seth chuckled, "no offence, but you sound like Luther."

Claire face palmed. "Great, I'm just having a wonderful night." She sighed. "You'd better come in, K-Mart's ready." She stepped back from the door to let him enter and led him toward the living room since he had never been in the house before. "Seth's here," she announced as they entered the room then went to stand next to Alice.

K-Mart crossed the room and stood in front of Seth. "Hi," she greeted shyly.

"You ready to go?" he asked holding out his arm for her to take.

"Yep, see you guys later!" she called over her shoulder as they left the room.

"Not too late!" Claire yelled as the teens stepped out the front door.


	16. Chapter 16

**AN:** OK, just so everyone is aware, this chapter solely consists of K-Mart and Seth's date. So anyone not interested in that storyline is free to skip it, but I think it would be awesome if you read it anyway.

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><p>Walking hand in hand down the street K-Mart asked Seth, "where are we going?"<p>

"Do you see the hill behind the school?" He asked.

"Yes," she replied slowly.

"Good, cause I can't and that's where we're going so lead the way." K-Mart responded by pulling him along by the hand toward the grassy hill and two of them made their way up until it levelled out on top. "Now, if I'm not mistaken there should be a lantern and a blanket."

K-Mart looked around before spotting the items. "Yep, over here." She pulled him over to the spot and they sat down on the blanket. "So who set this up?"

"Chris and Luther helped me plan, Chris brought the stuff out and Luther helped me get something to wear. How do I look?"

"Very nice," she observed. "You clean up well. Although I do have one problem with the outfit."

"You don't like the colour?" He asked, mentally berating himself for doing something wrong when the date had barely even started.

"No, blue looks great on you. It's just..." she trailed off but her hands came up and she removed the sunglasses he was wearing. "I'd rather look at you, and not at dark lenses." She explained, setting the glasses aside.

"Oh," Seth was uncertain how to respond.

"Can you promise that when it's just you and me you won't wear them?" He nodded and a smile crept over the blonde's face. "Good, because I don't want you to hide who you are from me. It really doesn't bother me that you can't see. I know you wear them to try and make other people forget you're blind, but that's not what I want. I want you to feel comfortable around me, but I also want to see your face." She reached up to brush some stray hair off Seth's forehead. "I really like the colour of your eyes," she whispered. "And honestly, the outfit looks better without the shades."

"Thank you." He smiled, no one had ever gone out of their way to make him feel as comfortable with himself as K-Mart did everyday, and he would never forget that. "You look beautiful tonight," he commented.

She raised an eyebrow. "How do you know?" She teasingly asked.

"I'm assuming," he admitted "but I would like to see for myself, if that's ok?" He asked raising a hand. When K-Mart didn't protest he ran his hand up her arm and over her shoulder. "New coat," he mumbled to himself as his hand continued on its trek. The jacket she was wearing wasn't zipped up all the way so he felt along her collar bone. "Is the necklace one you made, or one you found?" He asked.

"I made it a while ago but I've never worn it before. Are you done looking?"

Seth shook his head, "not yet. He gently lifted his hand higher "your hair is different today too," he commented, running his fingers through her free flowing blonde locks that were normally encased in a ponytail.

"Do you like it?" she asked him when he finally pulled his hand away.

"I love it."

K-Mart blushed and cleared her throat. She looked around them, trying to find a change in subject. She wasn't use to so much attention, and while she was flattered, it was a feeling she was not yet comfortable experiencing. "So what are we doing up here? I mean, it's not that cold tonight but why are we outside?"

"I hear it's going to be a clear night" he said lying down on the blanket.

"Who told you that? The weatherman?" she joked as she lay beside him on the blanket, leaving a few inches of space between them and pulled the excess fabric over them to keep them warm.

He laughed, "more like the weather dog. Turn off the lantern." He instructed and heard her compliance in the click of the switch. "Shep can smell a storm coming miles away and he always throws a fit if the weather's going to be bad. He was quiet all afternoon so I'm assuming it's a clear night."

"Yes, I haven't seen this many stars since we lived in the desert." K-Mart replied, gazing at the sky.

"Good, I was hoping you could describe them to me."

She turned to look at him, his face was directed at the sky even though he couldn't see it. "The stars?" Her tone was confused, "how am I suppose to describe them?"

"What do you think about when you look at them?"

K-Mart thought for a minute before speaking. "They're so far away," she began slowly. "I've travelled a long way from where I use to live, but there's no comparison to how far away they look." She reached over to grab Seth's hand and held it tightly. "When I use to gaze at them on warm nights in the desert I could almost feel at peace, sometimes just for a moment, but it would be enough. I hadn't felt that way in a long time, but looking at them now, reminds me that we're safe." Then a sheepish look crossed her face. "Sorry, I guess I didn't really describe them to you."

He squeezed her hand, "no, you did a great job. It sounds like stars are beautiful."

"They are." K-Mart affirmed. "Now it's your turn, tell me what it's like to be blind." She said turning the tables on him.

"You don't want to know about that." He replied wistfully.

"Yes I do, it's a big part of who you are. I like you a lot Seth, I want you to be able to share things with me." She paused, "I've never told Claire about how much I like to look at the stars." K-Mart admitted, "I was afraid she would think it was silly or something."

"Claire would never think that way about you." Seth took a deep breath, letting it out he turned to face the blonde. "If you really want to know, I'll tell you. Close your eyes." He instructed and K-Mart obeyed. "Now, picture yourself in a dark room, so dark you can't see your hand in front of your face."

"Ok."

"Now imagine you can never find a way out of that room. You can open your eyes now." K-Mart looked at him and was never so grateful she could see another person. "That's what it was like when I was really little. I felt like I was trapped in my own mind, I could hear and touch the world around me but never see it, I could never find a way out of the dark." He shrugged, "I got over it eventually. You kind of have to or you just spend your life being scared and miserable all the time."

K-Mart rolled onto her side so she could look at him properly, but didn't speak.

"What is it, K?" Seth didn't like her silence. "It's not really as bad as I made it sound." He backtracked. "It can just be a little scary sometimes."

She slowly reached out and wrapped an arm around his waist and snuggled into his side. "I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for you. To be alone, and not able to see the terrible things coming for you." She finally spoke after a long time of them laying in silence.

"I was never really alone. I had Shep the whole time, I really don't know where I would be without him." He actually had a pretty good idea about where he would probably be, but he didn't like to think about it, and the last thing he wanted was to make K-Mart feel any more sadness than she already was. "Sorry, I didn't want our first date to be so depressing."

K-Mart shook her head. "Don't be sorry. I asked you what it was like and you answered. Thank you for sharing that with me." She turned her head to press a kiss to his cheek and in response Seth blushed bright red.

The two teens laid in comfortable silence for a while before K-Mart could no longer control her impulse to speak. "What do you miss the most about the old world? Other than your family I mean."

"Music," Seth responded immediately. "It's one of the few things you don't need to see to fully experience," he explained. "I use to spend hours in my room listening and playing music, drove my sister nuts with it."

"You can play? What instrument?" K-Mart asked excitedly.

"Piano and guitar were my favourites, and I use to never leave home without my harmonica." K-Mart watched him smile at the memories. "God, it's been forever since I played anything."

"Seth this is great!" K-Mart squealed. "Come on, there's something you have to see." She stood quickly and yanked Seth up with surprising strength, passing him his walking stick and picking up the lantern for herself. She then proceeded to drag him in the direction from which they came back down the hill. Pulling him into the school she led him into one of the empty classrooms. "Right in front of you," she instructed then took the stick from his hand.

Seth reached out with both hands until they came in contact with a rather large wooden object. Feeling around a little he realized with excitement that it was a piano. Not a fancy one by any means, just a basic stand up. Further inspection revealed a bench so he pulled it out to sit down. Lifting the cover off the keys he let his right hand run along the ivory. Then gently he began pushing down on each key, listening to the sound. "It needs tuning, but maybe I can fix that later." He patted the spot next to him on the bench for K-Mart to join him. "Any requests?" He asked when she was seated.

K-Mart shook her head. "Just play me your favourite."

Seth thought for a moment before beginning to play. It took K-Mart a minute to recognize the tune before she started laughing. "The Spiderman theme? That's your favourite?" He just nodded and when he repeated the song again they both sang the words. "That was fun." she said when they finished and Seth stopped playing.

"I never really understood the concept of a man running around in tights with web coming out of his wrists, but I've always enjoyed the song. Thanks for this K, it has been years since I've experienced the joy of music. It really means a lot to me."

"Glad I could help."

Seth taught the blonde a few scales before reluctantly closing the cover over the piano keys. "I should probably get you home, it's getting late, and I don't want Claire to kill me in my sleep." He said and the two stood up from the bench.

The walk back was short and it was not long before they stopped in front of K-Mart's house. "I had a nice time Seth." The blonde said at the bottom of the front steps.

A relieved smile spread across the boy's face. "I'm glad. So is it something you would want to do again? Spend uninterrupted hours of time with me?"

"Anytime." K-Mart replied before closing the distance between them and capturing his lips in a chaste kiss. "Goodnight Seth," she whispered as he felt her placing the sunglasses he had completely forgotten she had taken back on his face.

With a goofy grin on his face, Seth left the yard, disappearing into the night to return to his own home.


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: **And here is the third chapter of my mega update. It's a little short unfortunately but I hope you still enjoy it!

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><p>Claire had not stopped moving since the teen had left. Alice was seated on the couch reading, and occasionally glancing up to watch the redhead move from the front window, across the room, around the couch, and back to the window again before repeating the motions. Claire was growing more agitated by the minute and couldn't understand why.<p>

"How are you so calm?" She managed to stop moving long enough to question the brunette.

Alice looked up from her book and offered a small shrug. "None of this bothers me the way it bothers you."

"That's what I don't understand!" Claire yelled in frustration. "Why does this bother me so much?"

Alice stared at her intently for a moment before setting her book aside to give the redhead her full attention. "Think about it Claire. It absolutely terrifies you that she's growing up. You and K-Mart have been each other's family for so long and here comes along some boy who you think is threatening that dynamic. You were her pretty much her whole world for years and now you have to share her with Seth the way she has to share you with me."

Claire carefully considered the brunette's words. She'd never thought about it that way before. Claire figured that maybe she was just being a little over protective, but Alice seemed to think it was something much deeper. And the more she thought about it the more guilty she felt. K-Mart had never once complained about how Claire's relationship with Alice had affected the teen and changed their own relationship. With all these new insights to consider, Claire felt even more agitated than before. "Did you just psychoanalyse me? Cause I don't think I like it." She restarted her pacing of the room.

Alice just shrugged again. "You asked me a question and I gave my nonprofessional opinion."

"Does this make me a terrible person? I mean, she was pushing you and me together from that very first day we met and here I am feeling sorry for myself because she doesn't really need me anymore."

"You're not a terrible person Claire, you're just so attached to K that you don't know how to let her go."

"Well how do I let her go?" Just saying it aloud clarified how much the thought terrified her and Claire grimaced.

"That's not really something I can help you with."

Claire huffed in frustration. "I think this may be the most unhelpful you've ever been."

Alice didn't look offended, rather she gave the redhead a lazy smile and patted the space next to her on the couch. "Sometimes there's really only so much I can do. Now come and sit down before you burn a whole in the floor with all that pacing."

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><p>"So, what happened?" Claire spoke the moment K-Mart entered the living room where the redhead and Alice were still seated on the couch. Alice still had her head in a book and though Claire was feeling a little bit better she hadn't been able to focus on anything since the teen had left hours before.<p>

"Nothing." K-Mart replied cryptically but a smile could clearly be seen on her face.

"Nothing? Come on K you know I won't settle for that! I want details!" The redhead protested jumping up from the couch.

At the movement Alice looked up from her book, as if she had just noticed the blonde's return. "Hey K, did you have a good time?" She asked.

"The best!" K-Mart blurted out and she ran over to join Alice on the couch. "Oh Alice, it was great! We went star gazing!"

Claire stood by the fireplace with her mouth hanging open, not at all pleased that the blonde had ignored her in favour of Alice. However, realizing that the teen was dishing out details she kept her mouth shut.

"Stargazing huh?" Alice commented. "And how did that work?"

"Well, I think it was more for me than for Seth." The teen admitted. "He asked me to describe it to him and we had a really nice talk."

"Talking was all you two did right?" Claire interrupted.

K-Mart rolled her eyes, "yes mom!" she said with fake annoyance. Then she addressed Alice again. "What did you do while I was gone?"

"I was being productive," she waved the book for emphasis. "That one," she jerked her head in Claire's direction, "paced for an hour before I could get her to sit down." She leaned forward to whisper to the teen. "You should cut her some slack, she's trying but it's hard for her to let you go." Then Alice stood up from the couch, "I'm going to bed, goodnight K." She kissed Claire on the forehead before leaving the room, leaving the two stubborn women alone.

There was an awkward silence, the first time there had been one between them in years. After a few minutes Claire cleared her throat. "I, um." She shook her head in frustration. "I'm glad you had a good time K, really I am. I want you to be happy and I'm sorry if I've made things difficult." Claire locked eyes with the teen who was just looking at her intently. "If I've made things uncomfortable for Seth I'll apologize to him if you'd like."

K-Mart shook her head. "Don't bother." she replied and the redhead looked at the floor feeling like a complete ass. The teen stood up from the couch and approached the redhead. "Don't bother," she repeated "cause I know he won't accept it. He told me he asked you for permission to take me on this date. Even though he knew I liked him he wanted you to be ok with it, he respects you and he really respects the relationship you and I have built." Claire looked up at the blonde to see her shake her head again with a small smile. "He won't accept your apology because he'll say you don't need to apologize. You're my big sister Claire and I love you. You've made it your job to look out for me and I'm the one who's sorry if I've made you feel bad about doing what you think is best for me."

K-Mart launched herself at the redhead and Claire caught her in a tight embrace. She hugged the teen for a long time before pulling back. "I just wanted to make sure the person who takes you from me will do a better job at taking care of you than I did."

"No one's going to take me away Claire, you'll always be my big sister. I love you. And considering the state of the world I think you've done a damn good job at taking care of me and I'll always be grateful for that."

The redhead hugged her again. "I love you too K. I can see how much you've grown up but that doesn't mean I like it." She let the blonde go and was surprised to feel tears in her own eyes. She cleared her throat again so she could sound more serious. "Now get to bed, it's really late."

K-Mart smiled at her, "ok, goodnight Claire." She left the room, and once Claire had put out the fire she retreated to the warmth of her bed and Alice's arms.

When she closed the bedroom door behind her Alice looked up with concern. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Claire replied taking a few deep breaths. "K-Mart and I are good. You were right, I need to start letting her go." She collapsed onto the bed next to Alice and absently began tracing patterns over the other woman's stomach. "Thank you by the way, for today, I was kind of a mess. I didn't mean it when I said you weren't helpful."

Alice smiled and covered the redhead's hand on her stomach with her own and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I know."

Claire smiled in return and it wasn't long before the mental exhaustion of the evening caused her to drift off to sleep.


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Resident Evil is not mine.**

**AN:** My updates have become more sporadic because I've been working on my second Resident Evil Alice/Claire story, so my apologies for the delays.

**AN2:** Unfortunately this is only a one chapter update, but I hope you enjoy it. I'll try to get the next one up as soon as possible. Thanks for reading!

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><p>The next few weeks passed in a blur, but Claire knew something was off. Every morning when she awoke it was to an empty bed, and while that was frustrating in itself, what bothered the redhead even more were Alice's cryptic answers when she had asked the brunette where she had been going every morning. Alice would simply reply that she had some stuff that had needed to be done and not to worry about it. Sometimes Alice would also pull these disappearing acts in the middle of the day, leaving for hours at a time without stating where she was going. This had been going on for over a week and the redhead was starting to get annoyed.<p>

She had even tried interrogating K-Mart but the blonde claimed not to know anything about it. Normally Claire wouldn't have believed her but the blonde had been spending increasing amounts of time out with Seth and eventually Claire just stopped asking. With both Alice and K-Mart absent much of the time Claire came to the unfortunate realization of how small her world had become. Without zombies to kill or evil corporations to fight off she had become complacent. Claire Redfield was a woman who liked to keep busy and if others weren't going to keep her occupied then she would find something else that would. Pacing her bedroom floor the redhead knew she needed some sort of solution, perhaps a hobby; anything to keep her occupied until K-Mart got use to her new relationship and Alice stopped keeping secrets.

Now the problem would be finding a constructive way to use her time. They were in Alaska, and for Claire that meant she had absolutely no clue as to what her options were. She decided maybe a walk was the best place to start and hopefully an idea would soon follow. Leaving the room, she made her way into the front hall. The weather was starting to get colder as summer faded into fall so she pulled on a warmer jacket, and as she was slipping her arm through one of the sleeves she heard a pair of voices coming from the other side of the front door.

She easily recognized the sound of her brother and Alice speaking to each other in low voices, but what they were discussing she couldn't quite make out. Zipping up the coat, she pulled open the door and joined the pair on the front porch. Chris jumped slightly at her sudden presence but Alice showed no signs of surprise, rather giving the redhead a warm smile that Claire was certain was reserved solely for her.

"You know it's much warmer in the house if you two wanted to talk."

Chris immediately stood a bit straighter if it were possible. "No, it's okay. I was just leaving." He offered an awkward wave, further convincing Claire that something was definitely up, then quickly retreated from the house.

Claire waited until he was out of sight before turning on her girlfriend. "He's acting weird, do you know anything about that?"

Alice merely shrugged. "I think he always acts strange, all those years in the military must have rattled his brains."

"Maybe." She wasn't satisfied with the brunette's answer but decided not to push. She trusted Alice completely, and if her girlfriend wasn't telling her something she trusted that it was for good reason. Although she wasn't sure how much longer her patience with those around her was going to last before she started demanding answers.

"Were you going somewhere?" Alice asked and Claire was happy that for once this week she was the one with the answers.

"Just for a walk."

"Is this a private walk or can I tag along?"

Claire smiled. "I would like it very much if you came along." Alice matched her grin and took the redhead's hand, motioning for Claire to lead the way. They silently walked the streets hand in hand and Claire revelled in the closeness she had been missing the last couple of weeks. "This is going to sound weird and needy because I still see you everyday, but I've missed you."

Alice dropped the hand she'd been holding in favour of wrapping an arm around the redhead to pull her closer. "It's my fault, I've been busy with something. But I promise it's only for a couple more days and then I'll be all yours again."

"So there's actually a reason you've been disappearing? It's not because you're sick of me?" Claire hated the way it made her sound insecure but it was something that had been nagging at the back of mind the last few days.

The brunette came to an abrupt halt, looking at her with a worried frown. "I could never get sick of you," Alice said seriously. And as if to prove her point she cupped Claire's face gently, and gave her perhaps the sweetest kiss the redhead had ever received. Claire smiled into the kiss but soon pulled away to question her girlfriend further.

"Are you trying to distract me from finding out where it is you've been disappearing off to?"

"Yep." Alice replied with a wink and Claire sighed in frustration. "But I meant what I said too, it's not actually possible for me to get sick of you."

She wondered how it was possible for Alice to be so sweet yet frustrating at the same time. "Remind me why I put up with you again?"

"I would but we're in the middle of the street and I don't think it would be appropriate." Alice whispered in her ear causing Claire to shiver.

"You're impossible!" The redhead exclaimed, wiggling out of Alice's grasp.

Alice grinned mischievously. "You still love me though."

Claire slowly began backing away, pretending to be thinking it over. "Mmm, I don't know."

The brunette took a small step forward, "Come on Claire, don't be like that."

But Claire defiantly shook her head. "I'll say it when you tell me about these secrets you've been keeping."

"Ooh a challenge. You know I have ways of making you talk."

Alice took another step forward but Claire had been anticipating it and dodged out of the way before tearing off in the opposite direction at a full run. She could hear the brunette laughing but didn't look back, knowing Alice could easily catch her if she slowed down for even a moment despite her head start. Weaving around the community centre Claire stopped only when she was hidden behind the school, panting slightly at the exertion. She waited, minutes went by but Alice did not appear. Sliding along the wall until she got to the edge Claire peeked around the corner but there were no sign of her missing girlfriend.

It was then that she heard the sound of some scuffling coming from above her, and Claire looked up just in time to see Alice drop down from the roof, landing next to her with a dull thud. Alice straightened up then quickly placed both hands on either side of Claire, effectively trapping the redhead against the wall. The brunette stared down at her with a victorious smirk and Claire knew she had lost their little game.

"Looks like I win." Alice spoke in a low voice but the smug satisfaction was still evident.

"Only because you cheated." Claire protested but made no attempts to escape. "Scaling the building? Really Alice? How long were you sitting up there watching me?"

"Long enough to think about doing this," she replied before smashing their lips together. It was a relatively short kiss, and as soon as Claire was getting into it Alice pulled away. When the redhead moved in to reinitiate Alice pushed her back against the wall, shaking her head. "Say it."

Claire rolled her eyes but nevertheless told Alice what she wanted to hear. "Ok I admit it; even though sometimes you are impossible to deal with I still love you. Happy now?"

"Very."

"Good." And with that settled Claire closed the distance between them before Alice could disappear again, and did not release the brunette until she felt like she were about to pass out from lack of oxygen. Alice did not appear to be nearly as winded as she was now placing lazy kisses along the redhead's neck. When Claire let out an embarrassingly loud groan Alice paused her ministrations to whisper in her ear.

"You want to head on home, or should we finish our walk?"

"Home. Now." Claire grunted and kissed Alice quickly before pushing her away. Alice grabbed her hand and Claire was never so grateful that they only lived across the street. She felt like a teenager again as they made their way out from behind the school building before she remembered they were two adults who didn't need to be sneaking around.

The couple was less than ten steps away from their front door when the sound of someone calling her name reached Claire's ears. "Fuck," she hissed, recognizing the voice instantly and plastered a phoney smile on her face as she turned around. "Hi Mrs. Parker, what can I do for you on this lovely afternoon?" She greeted through slightly clenched teeth but the older woman didn't appear to notice.

"I was wondering if I could have a word with you." She glanced over at Alice with narrowed eyes, "alone," she all but sneered at the brunette.

Her frustration at being interrupted vanished and Claire frowned in confusion. She found Mrs. Parker to be slightly irritating on the best of days but the woman had always been nothing but polite to everyone and the redhead had absolutely no idea what could have caused the sudden hostile attitude against her girlfriend. She glanced at Alice in silent questioning but Alice didn't look either surprised nor offended at Mrs. Parker's sudden change in demeanor.

Instead Alice smiled politely, though Claire could tell it was somewhat forced, and squeezed her hand firmly before letting it go. "I just remembered I'm suppose to meet Chris," she said casually. "So, I'll see you later okay?"

Claire was more than a little disappointed, in the back of her mind she had been scheming ways to get rid of Mrs. Parker and now Alice was disappearing to do god-knows-what again. She sighed but nodded in understanding and Alice gave her an apologetic smile before leaving her alone in the front yard with Mrs. Parker. Claire crossed her arms as she waited for the older woman to speak, thinking that whatever she had to say had better be worth missing her much coveted alone time with Alice, though she seriously doubted it.

But Mrs. Parker was still watching Alice walk away and waited until the brunette was out of sight to turn her attention back to Claire. "Does she normally spend a lot of time with your brother?"

Claire thought back over the last few weeks, and realized that in addition to Alice's frequent disappearances she also hadn't seen Chris as often either. She then remembered how the pair of them were talking in low voices on the porch less than an hour ago and now Alice had run off to meet him about something. "Have you seen them spending a lot of time together?" She asked Mrs. Parker instead of answering her question.

"Well you know I live in the house next to your brother," Claire didn't actually know that but made a mental note to thank K-Mart for it later. "And I've noticed Alice coming and going from there a lot recently. Is everything all right with you two?"

The redhead was thinking about telling her it was none of her fucking business but the woman seemed to know something she didn't so for the moment she decided to keep that comment to herself. "Is there any particular reason you're asking me these questions?"

"I think it's pretty obvious what's going on dear," she said kindly. "Those two are obviously sneaking around behind your back." She reached out to console the redhead but Claire took a step back and held up her hands.

"Wait a second, let me get this straight. You think Alice is cheating on me? With my own brother no less, just because you've seen Alice going into the house?" When Claire received a sympathetic nod in answer she had to control the impulse to punch this woman in the face. There was not a doubt in her mind that Mrs. Parker had probably gone blabbering to anyone who would listen about her nonexistent relationship problems before finally coming to her, so how had she not heard about this earlier? Claire forced herself to take a deep breath, gathering as much patience as she could muster before speaking again. "Thank you for your concern Mrs. Parker but I really don't think anything like that is going on between Alice and Chris." She spoke firmly, trying to get the point across but the other woman was barely even listening.

"It's perfectly natural to be denial when these things happen Claire. But don't worry, I know you'll get through it."

"There's nothing to get through!" The redhead insisted, her patience wearing thin rapidly. She was done listening to this woman making ridiculous accusations. Claire worried about a lot of things when it came to Alice, most of them involving scenarios where the brunette had almost gotten herself killed, but she never questioned Alice's faithfulness. It was just a given. When someone flies from Japan to Alaska in a tiny aircraft just to find you, they probably aren't thinking about someone else. Alice didn't like to talk about her past but she had always been honest with Claire, and it really pissed her off that people thought Alice couldn't be trusted. The redhead had flashbacks to the fight she'd had with Chris when they'd first arrived, and while he had been acting on big brother protectiveness, the woman in front of her had no business making accusations about the woman Claire loved.

Mrs. Parker however, remained unaware of how close she was to a Redfield verbal smack down. "I would just hate to see you get hurt that's all."

Claire had heard more than enough and was done being polite. She took two steps forward so she was towering over the other woman and stared down at her. There was a moment of smug satisfaction when Mrs. Parker gulped loudly as she stared back up at Claire looking absolutely terrified. "Listen very carefully because I'm only going to say this once. I am more than a thousand percent sure that Alice isn't cheating on me. I realize that you're probably bored and have nothing better to do than get up in other people's business, but if you ever say anything like that to me again I will not be as friendly as I am right now. Do we understand each other?" She waited for her companion to nod slowly before stepping back, a genuine smile now in place. "You have a nice day now Mrs. Parker."

Claire walked away, leaving the older woman trembling behind her. But instead of returning to her own empty house Claire double backed across the street. Alice may not be cheating on her with her brother but if Mrs. Parker was right and they were spending all this time together, than there was one person who would know what was going on.

Luther was someone she didn't often seek out for conversation, or anything resembling social interaction but if Alice was spending hours at his house with Chris than Luther would most definitely know why. She also knew it would be a hell of a lot easier to drag the information out of him than the others since he was scared shitless of her after that one time she had punched him in the face. Claire shook off that particularly fond memory for the time being as she made her way over to the old store where they kept all the settlement's food supplies. She had put Luther in charge of the whole operation to keep him busy and give him a sense of authority that wouldn't interfere with her at all. However, upon entering the store Claire would have gladly traded the sight before her for ten Luthers.

K-Mart and Seth were behind the counter making out furiously. The blonde was leaning back against the counter for support with her arms wrapped around her new boyfriend's neck. Neither teen appeared to have heard the redhead enter the store and Claire was too horrified at what she was witnessing to speak. It was when she noticed Seth's hands inching closer to K-Mart's chest that Claire finally found her voice.

"Unless you want to loose the use of your hands as well I'd be careful where I was placing them." Her warning had the desired effect as the two teenagers quickly separated, both of their faces flushed with embarrassment at being caught by the redhead.

"Claire! What are you doing here?" K-Mart spluttered out in shock.

"Looking for Luther if you can believe it."

"He's not here," Seth offered unhelpfully.

Claire hoped the boy could feel her glare even though he couldn't see it. "Yes, I can see that. What are you two doing here?"

"Luther asked me to cover for him, said he had something to do for Alice." He replied and was immediately elbowed in the chest by K-Mart, indicating he had said more than he was suppose to.

Claire frowned further, it seemed everyone knew what was going on except for her. But she now had more pressing issues to take care of. "You are coming home with me right now." She said, pointing at K-Mart. The blonde huffed loudly but didn't talk back, and Claire knew it was only because she didn't want to make a scene in front of Seth. Claire heard the teens whisper their goodbyes and watched as K-Mart stomped angrily passed her and out the door.

When they were both outside the blonde turned on her. "You're overreacting, we were just kissing."

"I recall seeing some hands as well."

K-Mart huffed again. "This is so not fair, you and Alice are way worse!"

"Alice and I are grown adults, the same ones who have saved your life on multiple occasions. So if I were you, I'd pick my words carefully. I have not had the best day and will not hesitate to ground your ass."

"Why? What happened?"

Claire rolled her head back, enjoying the cracking sound it made in her neck. "I got a visit from our favourite gossip monger. She thinks Alice and Chris are sneaking around behind my back, which I know they are but she seems to think they're fooling around."

"Gross," K-Mart commented and Claire agreed, just the thought of her brother and Alice together was enough to make her feel nauseous. "Alice would never cheat on you." The teen opened the front door, and Claire felt her cheeks burn at the sudden change in temperature as they entered the house and moved into the living room.

"I know that, I just wish I knew what was really going on. I don't understand why Alice just won't tell me."

"That would ruin the surprise." The blonde said absently before slapping a hand over her mouth.

"What surprise?"

"I've said too much already!" K-Mart panicked, but Claire disagreed as she still had no idea what was going on.

"At least tell me how much longer I have to wait. This whole thing is driving me crazy K-Mart."

"Just until the day after tomorrow, but you have to pretend like you don't know. Alice will kill me if she finds out I let anything slip."

"Fine, but until then you have to stay here with me." Claire knew it was selfish but if she had to be miserable for another day, she wasn't about to let anyone else have any fun either. And she wasn't about to let K-Mart off the hook for her earlier display with Seth.

K-Mart scowled but seemed to realize that arguing would be pointless given the redhead's sour mood. "What are we suppose to do for the next two days?"

Claire looked around the room for ideas but came up empty. She smiled sheepishly at the blonde. "I have no idea."


	19. Chapter 19

**AN: **I hope this chapter turned out alright, for some reason it was the hardest one to write.

**AN2: **I want to thank everyone for their amazing reviews. I had literally no expectations when I decided to post this story and to hear that people are enjoying it means a great deal.

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><p>Claire was surprised when she didn't wake up alone on the day that K-Mart had indicated Alice's surprise would take place. It was nice waking up in almost the exact position she had fallen asleep, on her side facing the window where sunlight was now sneaking through the curtains and Alice's protective arms wrapped around her. She still had no idea what was going on or why Alice had felt the need to surprise her with something that was obviously very time consuming. Claire was more than anxious to find out what had been causing all these secrets and it was driving her crazy not to just outright ask her girlfriend in order to keep K-Mart's slip up under wraps. But waking up to the familiarity that had been absent as of late made things a lot easier.<p>

Alice's left hand began tracing slow, deliberate circles on the skin beneath her t-shirt and Claire wondered how it was that Alice always knew when she was awake. She rolled over to face her girlfriend and Alice pulled her even closer so their legs were tangled together and she rested her head on the brunette's shoulder while using her right hand to trace her own patterns just below Alice's collarbone. She noticed for the first time that Alice was fully dressed, indicating that at some point in the early morning her girlfriend had been up and about but judging by the warmth of Alice's hands she had been back and waiting on her to wake up for quite some time.

"You're here?" It was more of a question than a statement and Claire waited for Alice to realize she had somewhere else to be and leave again. But it didn't happen. The only movement Alice made was to press a kiss into messy red hair.

"Of course I'm here, this is my favourite part of the day. But if you want me to leave..."

Claire clutched at her girlfriend almost painfully. "No, I definitely want you here. I'm just surprised because I've woken up alone everyday this week." She hoped Alice would take the hint and tell her what the deal was with her disappearances but before the brunette could reply there was loud knocking on their bedroom door followed by K-Mart's excited voice.

"Are you two awake?" The teen called through the door.

"Go away K-Mart!" Claire groaned, not happy at having her alone time with Alice interrupted yet again.

But the blonde was not deterred. "Just for that I'm coming in so you had better be dressed or at the very least covered!" She warned before throwing the door open wide and barging into the room.

"Remind me to get a lock for that door." The redhead muttered to Alice as she glared at the teenager. "What is so important that couldn't possibly wait until later?"

K-Mart ignored the glare and spoke to Alice instead. "Chris is here with the...thing." She then abruptly left the room, closing the door behind her.

Claire's annoyance dissipated in favour of a fresh wave of confusion and she sat up quickly. "What thing? Why is Chris here? Why does no one tell me anything anymore?"

Alice put a calming hand on the redhead's leg. "I have something for you, today is a very special day after all. Put on some warm clothes and meet me outside, then all your questions will be answered." She planted a kiss on the redhead's temple before climbing out of the bed and leaving the room.

Claire remained frozen in place, even after Alice was gone. K-Mart had mentioned a surprise but nothing about it being a gift, and more importantly why was Alice giving her something? And why was this a special day? She wracked her brain but came up empty. She didn't even know what the date was so that didn't do her any favours. Whatever Alice had prepared had obviously taken a lot of time, and the fact that she had enlisted Chris and Luther for help spoke to the amount of effort this gift had taken. But what would cause Alice to go to so much trouble?

Then the answer hit her like a ton of bricks to the face. It must be her and Alice's anniversary! It was the only logical explanation. They had been together for a while now and while Claire had lost all concept of time since the end of the world it wouldn't surprise her if Alice knew right down to the hour the exact date they had gotten together. Suddenly Claire no longer wanted to leave the room. She hadn't thought they were keeping track of that kind of thing but apparently Alice was and now she had nothing to give the brunette in return. The redhead could not remember the last time she felt so shitty about something that was actually her fault.

Slowly slipping from the bed and pulling some random clothes on, Claire felt the guilt of forgetting her own anniversary weighing heavily down on her. Making her way out of the room she dragged her feet across the floor and was met in the front hall by K-Mart.

The blonde looked at her with disapproval. "I don't know what's up with you but you'd better put a smile on that face. Chris and Alice worked really hard on all this for you."

"I'm a terrible person K." Claire moaned.

"What are you talking about?"

"Alice's surprise is a gift but I don't have anything to give her."

The expression on K-Mart's face changed into confusion. "I don't think Alice is expecting anything from you Claire. It's not like it's your anniversary or something."

"Wait! It's not?" Claire was now more confused then ever.

"You really have no idea what day it is, do you?" Claire shook her head and K-Mart chuckled. "This is going to be good then." The blonde then proceeded to push Claire out the front door without waiting for her to put on a jacket.

Alice wasn't alone on the front porch, she was standing with Chris, Luther, and Seth.

"Hey," she greeted hesitantly. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We're here for you." Chris answered. "You didn't think we would miss this did you?"

"Miss what? Can someone please tell me what's going on?"

Muffled voices off to the side revealed K-Mart whispering something to Alice. The brunette whispered something back and K-Mart shook her head in response causing Alice to chuckle softly. She stepped away from the teen and stood in front of the redhead.

Claire looked at her expectantly, waiting to finally find out what was the big deal. Alice seemed to think over what to say but ended up just dropping the bomb. "It's your birthday Claire." She explained calmly.

"It's my birthday?" Claire repeated slowly and the brunette nodded, smiling. Claire suddenly felt like an idiot for not considering this a possibility earlier. She hadn't even thought about her own birthday in years, having much more important things to worry about, like the daily struggle to stay alive. And even these days she hadn't felt any compulsion to keep track of the date, and now here she was feeling foolish at forgetting her own birthday.

"That's right little sis, it's your birthday." Chris spoke up. "Can you believe that today you turn–"

Claire was quick to interrupt him. "You had better not finish that sentence." Celebrating life was one thing, but remembering how old you're getting is something she would gladly forget.

"Fine, it will be our little secret." He said, backing off.

"We have something for you." K-Mart said. "It was Alice's idea and she and Chris did most of the work, but we all pitched in where we could."

Claire was about ready to burst, she was dying to see what had taken so long for Alice and Chris to put together. "Well don't keep me in the dark any longer. What is it? Show me." She all but demanded, bouncing on her feet in a stance similar to K-Mart's when the teen was overexcited.

Alice grabbed the redhead's hand and pulled her past the others and down the steps of the porch. Leading Claire around to the side of the house onto the driveway and stopped when the gift was in sight.

There in the driveway was a bike. To Claire it looked like a hybrid between a motorcycle and a dirt bike. She knew the parts must have been years old but the vehicle somehow looked brand new. Dropping Alice's hand she approached the bike slowly, walking around it in a large circle, taking it all in. The shiny black metal gleaming in the early morning sunlight, the leather seat, the deep treads on the tires making it perfect for the terrain, it was all perfect. Glancing back up at Alice she took in the brunette's grin and knew that her happiness with the gift must have been transparent. Darting back down the driveway she threw her arms around the other woman in a massive hug before quickly pulling back but only far enough to lay a passionate kiss on her unsuspecting girlfriend, not caring in the slightest that the others were standing right behind them.

The redhead pulled away after a couple of minutes, leaving an almost completely dazed Alice in her wake. Claire didn't think her grin could get any wider but was proven wrong when Alice finally came back to earth. "Uh, happy birthday?"

Almost skipping back over to her new toy she ran a single finger along the seat. "Where did you get this? It's amazing."

"Alice and I were talking a few weeks ago, and I mentioned you use to love motorcycles so she thought it would be a good idea if we got you one. We couldn't find one that was completely intact so we built this with the pieces we could find." Chris answered.

"You guys built this for me?"

Alice nodded. "That's why I was gone all the time. It was a lot more work than I thought it would be and we really wanted to get it done in time for your birthday. But since you didn't even remember I guess it doesn't matter."

"It does matter, I love it. By far the best birthday this apocalypse has ever seen."

"We got some stuff that goes with it too." K-Mart said and took a duffle bag from Seth that Claire hadn't noticed the other teen had been holding, handing it over to the redhead. The bag was heavy so Claire set it on the ground, kneeling as she unzipped it K-Mart piped up again. "You have to promise you'll wear these when you ride it."

The first thing Claire pulled out of the bag was an oversized leather jacket, the second was a helmet. She rolled her eyes at the items now in hand but with K-Mart looking at her earnestly she quickly donned the jacket. Not able to wait any longer to try her new bike she looked at the group expectantly. "Keys?" And as if expecting the question Chris's hand shot up and the keys flew through the air in an instant with Claire easily catching them. "You guys tested this thing right? It's not going to blow up the moment I sit on it?"

"It's fine." Chris reassured. "I took it out for a final test this morning."

Nodding at his answer Claire quickly walked back to the bike, straddling it before popping the helmet onto her head. Starting the bike she smiled widely at the loud noise it made as it hummed to life. Chris and Luther must have pushed it here from their house for her not have heard it and she remembered how lucky she was to still have such amazing people in her life after everything that had happened. Knowing there was something she had to do before she was able to fully enjoy her gift she shut off the ignition and took off her helmet, dropping it to the ground as she hopped off the bike. They all looked at her in confusion until she grabbed Chris and pulled him into a tight hug. When she released him she followed suit with K-Mart. She clapped Seth on the back and even managed to shake hands with Luther before wrapping her arms around Alice again.

"You guys are amazing. Thank you."

She then ran back to the bike and after getting herself situated once again started the engine and zoomed passed them. Feeling the vibrations through her body and the speed of the bike, Claire hadn't felt so carefree in a really long time. And she was amazed at the simple joy she found in something she used to love but had never expected to experience again.

She took a few laps around the open field next to the village and raced the bike down to the beach and drove it along the shoreline. Claire had been tempted to ditch the helmet a few times in order to feel the wind rushing through her hair but decided against it, feeling it wasn't worth the wrath of K-Mart if the blonde ever found out what she'd done. After awhile Claire decided to head back, not sure how long she'd been gone. On her way back through town she spotted nosey Mrs. Parker out in the street and sped up significantly, seeing a perfect opportunity to get some pay back. As the woman heard the noise she turned around just in time for Claire to dart passed her, only missing the old woman by a couple of inches. Despite the loud engine she could still hear Mrs. Parker shriek in terror , causing Claire to smirk. Turning the corner she slowed down when her house was in sight and pulled into the driveway. Parking the bike in place she removed the helmet and unsuccessfully attempted to fix her hair. She found Alice sitting alone on front steps and plopped down beside her.

"The others all left?"

Alice nodded. "Yeah, even K wandered off with Seth when you didn't come back right away. Did you have fun with your new toy?"

Claire could not contain her grin. "Yes! I love it. I had forgotten how much fun that could be." She then offered her helmet to the brunette. "Do you want to try it?"

"No, it's for you. Besides I don't have a very good track record when it comes to bikes. The last one I had was wrecked in the desert with my psychic powers while I slept, and the one before that blew up after I drove it through a church window and shot it to kill a monster."

Claire looked horrified. "Ok, you are not allowed near my bike." She was being completely serious and was not impressed when Alice chuckled at her. However she was soon distracted by a hysterical Mrs. Parker fumbling into the front yard.

"Claire," she gasped "you have to do something! Some hooligan almost ran me over in the street!"

Out of the corner of her eye Claire could see the brunette giving her a knowing smirk but she ignored it, trying to keep her own smug expression hidden. Instead she offered the older woman an apologetic smile and waved her helmet in front of her. "I'm afraid that was me Mrs. Parker. I got a little carried away with my new bike and didn't see you. I hope I didn't scare you too badly." Claire smiled sweetly and watched the nosey woman struggle to come up with a response now that she knew it had been the redhead who had almost knocked her on her ass.

"Where did you get that death trap?" Mrs. Parker tried attacking the machine since she couldn't go after the rider.

Claire threw an arm around Alice. "My _faithful_ girlfriend and my _trusty_ brother were nice enough to build it for me for my birthday. Aren't I lucky to have two such amazing people who only care about my happiness?"

The redhead stared intently at the older woman and inwardly smirked when Mrs. Parker's face flushed in embarrassment. "Uh, yes, very lucky." She shifted uncomfortably, "but maybe next time you could be a little more careful when you ride that thing? You scared the life out of me."

"Sure thing Mrs. P. You have a nice day now." Claire said, effectively dismissing the other woman.

"You too, uh happy birthday." Mrs. Parker muttered as she scurried away and Claire burst out laughing when she was out of sight.

Her laughing stopped when Alice raised a questioning eyebrow at her. "What was that all about?"

Claire just shook her head. "I'll tell you later, but first.." she scooted impossibly closer to her girlfriend. "I think you owe me some fantastic birthday sex." After her excellent morning, Claire's confidence was at an all time high and the words fell easily from her mouth.

But Alice still gave a halfhearted attempt at resistance. "I built you a bike! Is that not enough for you?"

"The bike is great, but I'd much rather have you." Her eyes pleading with the brunette even though Claire knew she'd already won. "Please Alice? It's my birthday." She jutted out her bottom lip but the pout instantly turned into a smile when Alice kissed her.

Pulling away and dragging the redhead to her feet, Alice grinned. "You're right. It's your birthday and that calls for some private celebrations."

And as she happily followed Alice into the house, Claire mused about how right she'd been earlier; it was the best birthday the apocalypse had ever seen.


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil.**

**AN: **To all my wonderful readers I dedicate this longer-than-usual update. This is officially my longest chapter to date! Enjoy!

**AN2: **Special shout out to DarkVigilante: even I haven't printed out this story and my apologies to your stapler.

**AN3: **I almost forgot, there's another flashback in this chapter. It will appear in _italics_!

* * *

><p>Claire had let their mess of a basement remain as such for another month before deciding it couldn't be put off any longer, and now her, Alice, and K-Mart were up to their waists in a sea of objects. It was clear that whoever had lived in the house before had been a borderline hoarder of everything and anything. They'd been working since morning and had barely cleared out enough space to walk without stepping on anything.<p>

"Good job picking this house to live in K." Claire sarcastically commented. "Where the fuck does someone get all this stuff when you live in Alaska?" The redhead huffed, frustration spilling out. The three of them had been down there for hours and were no closer to accomplishing anything.

"Years of collecting?" Alice suggested as she picked up another box filled with things they didn't need and heading up the stairs.

"I think it's great," K-Mart piped up from her place on the floor, sifting through items.

"That's because you're a hoarder waiting to happen, the way you collect things." Claire muttered to herself, not noticing the teen sticking her tongue out a her. "Oh look," she said with fake enthusiasm. "Another chest to go through, let's hope its filled with cigarettes." Opening the lid revealed it was filled with photographs. She shut the top immediately and dragged it over to the stairs.

"What's in it?" K-Mart asked, looking in the redhead's direction.

"Pictures." She answered solemnly. "I don't know about you, but I'd rather not really know about the people who use to live here. I mean, yes we're going through their stuff; but going through their family photographs just feels really invasive."

"What do you want to do with it?" The teen questioned, "I don't think we should throw it away."

Claire shook her head, "no, we won't pitch it. I'll have Alice put it in the shed out back."

"So I'm your mule, eh? Pack me up and send me out?" The brunette asked as she returned to the basement.

"The chest is filled with photographs" was all Claire said, as if it explained everything.

Alice nodded in understanding. "Alright, I'll take it out back." She picked it up with ease and headed back up the stairs again, returning a few minutes later to help Claire reach another box at the top of the pile.

"So why do we have to do this now?" K-Mart asked. "I thought cleaning this up was the last thing in the world you wanted to do."

"This needs to get done before the snow starts to fall. There's no way I'm leaving my baby outside for the whole winter." She spoke absently as half her attention went to sifting through a box of creepy antique dolls.

K-Mart's brow furrowed and at the blonde's confusion Alice clarified. "She means the bike."

The blonde frowned in disdain and she rolled her eyes. "And how does that make you feel Alice? That we're doing all this work for her beloved bike."

Claire scoffed. "Alice knows I love her more than the bike." She glanced over at the brunette. "Right?" Alice winked in reply causing Claire to grin.

"Well what about me?" K-Mart whined. "You've had me longer than that contraption, or have I been replaced by some scrap metal?"

"Jealous K? With that attitude I might give the bike your room and you can live down here with this mess." Claire was only teasing but it forced the blonde into silence for several gloriously long minutes. K-Mart picked up the box she had been sorting and disappeared up the stairs.

Claire felt pressure around her arm, Alice trying to get her attention. "You should cut her some slack." Claire was surprised at her girlfriend's comment. Alice was very hands off in dealing with K-Mart, respecting the redhead's bond with the teen and rarely offering her own parental concerns.

"K-Mart knows I'm just teasing."

Alice smiled warmly at her. "I know, but I think she might actually be jealous."

The redhead stared at her in disbelief. That couldn't be true, could it? K-Mart couldn't honestly believe that Claire loved the bike more than her? Then again, the teen had always been a little over dramatic and Claire supposed she shouldn't find it all that surprising the blonde was jealous of her new toy. She had been spending almost everyday fawning over the vehicle, cleaning it and tinkering with the engine when she wasn't riding it. Claire suspected that if her girlfriend was anyone other than Alice she would have gotten an earful about the amount of time she'd been spending with that bike.

K-Mart returned to the basement with an empty box and picked up some loose items from the floor. "Why can't the bike stay in the shed outside?" She spoke as if it were a more logical solution than what they were doing and Claire momentarily forgot about what Alice had just said.

The redhead gave the teen a look of absolute horror. "Are you crazy? We don't know how cold it's going to get in the middle of winter, I'm not leaving it out with only that flimsy shed as protection!"

K-Mart rolled her eyes again and huffed. "I'm not the one who's crazy."

Claire was about to retort but the look Alice was giving her told her to let it drop and Claire instantly felt guilty. "I'm sorry K, I shouldn't have snapped at you." She apologized but the teen merely shrugged.

"It's fine."

"No, it's not. You're right, I am being a little...crazy." It was hard for the redhead to admit it, but Alice's encouraging smile made things slightly easier. Unfortunately, it didn't look like K-Mart believed her so Claire searched her mind for another solution. Abandoning what she was doing, Claire crossed the room and stood next to the teen but the blonde didn't acknowledge her presence, still crouched on the floor, throwing items into the box. Claire gently laid a hand on the teen's shoulder and K-Mart stopped moving.

The blonde stood up, brushing off the redhead's hand and stood facing Claire with her arms crossed over her chest. "It's fine Claire, we have to clean this up anyway and if it's for your bike I really couldn't care less."

Claire was taken aback by the younger girl's attitude. K-Mart had never spoken with such detachment before and the redhead didn't like it one bit. Even when they argued K-Mart never gave up this easily, always preferring to challenge Claire until she gave into whatever the blonde wanted. The redhead looked helplessly to her girlfriend but Alice offered no advice and Claire knew it was up to her to fix things with the teen.

She gently grabbed the blonde's arm and pulled her towards the stairs. "We'll be back," she said to Alice who nodded in response. K-Mart halfheartedly attempted to refuse the pulling on her arm but Claire was a lot stronger and the teen eventually just allowed herself to be dragged up the stairs, though she did her best to not make it easy for the redhead. Claire considered just picking up the girl and carrying her unwilling body but that seemed a little too extreme. Once she had the teen up the stairs it was much easier to usher her out the door and around the house. She stopped when they were next to her covered bike and only then did Claire let go of the blonde. "Stay" she instructed and was surprised when K-Mart actually obeyed.

Claire took the few steps over to her bike and removed the protective tarp covering it. She noticed K-Mart glare at the vehicle once it was revealed and Claire set the tarp off to the side. "Stay there, I'll be right back." Claire ordered and quickly scurried over to the open doors of the shed. Easily finding the object she sought she carried it behind her back and joined K-Mart next to the bike. Taking a deep breath Claire handed the blonde a hammer.

K-Mart eyed the object with confusion. "What am I suppose to do with this?"

It took the redhead every ounce of strength she possessed to utter her next sentence. She pointed to her beloved bike. "Hit the bike with it."

The teen's eyes bugged out of her head. "What?"

"Hit the bike," Claire repeated not sure if she'd be able to say it again. "You'll have to hit it pretty hard because it's only a hammer, we don't have anything bigger."

"But won't that damage it?"

"Yes."

"But you love this bike!"

"I do, but I love you more K; and if it really bothers you how much time I've spent with it then we need to get rid of it."

K-Mart dropped the hammer to the ground. "That's stupid Claire, you don't want me to destroy your bike, it's your pride and joy."

Claire grabbed the blonde by both shoulders and tried not to give into the temptation to try and physically shake some sense into the teen. "No K-Mart, _you _are. Don't you see that? I couldn't love you anymore than if I had given birth to you myself." At the comment both women made a face. "That was a really strange image and you should just forget it," she tried to backtrack. "But the point is, that a choice between you and a machine isn't a real choice at all."

K-Mart was quiet for an unusually long time before a relieved smile spread across her face. "Really?"

Claire matched her grin. "Of course! I named you, I never would have made it this far without you. You think I would just toss you aside for that?" She jerked her head over to the bike which Claire found suddenly didn't seem as important as it had an hour ago.

A slight flush took over the blonde's face and she shook her head. "I feel kind of stupid now, I really was jealous of a motorcycle."

"I'm sorry I made you feel that way K-Mart." The blonde still looked embarrassed but Claire knew a surefire way to make it all better. She released the teen and ran a hand through her hair. "K, after we found you on the ship how long was it before your memories started coming back?"

As expected K-Mart looked confused by the question. "I don't know, it sort of came back in pieces. It was three days before I could remember my mother's face, and almost a week before I could remember how you found me all those years ago."

"It was the same for me, the coming back in pieces thing. The first thing I remembered was landing on the beach, but not much else. I didn't recognize Chris when we met up in the prison and it was weeks before I remembered that Alice and I were...together."

"She didn't tell you?"

Claire smirked. "We're talking about Alice, I have a feeling she would have never told me if the memories hadn't come back on their own." Her eyes glazed over as she recalled the relief she had felt when all the feelings she'd been struggling to understand since meeting Alice in Alaska had finally made sense again. Claire shook her head, returning to the present where K-Mart was still looking at her expectantly. "Anyway, I just thought you should know that you were the first person I remembered K."

"I was?" the blonde stuttered, obviously not expecting the admission.

"Yeah, it wasn't until we were at the prison. I was staring at the ship with binoculars and thinking that something wasn't right. I had Alice, even though I didn't know her, but I knew something was missing. That someone else was missing. Then things started to come back, the yellow hummer, sand– lots of sand" K-Mart chuckled "and then a blonde kid. It was only after I remembered you that I was able to start piecing things together." Not being able to even remember her own name had been the scariest thing ever to happen to the redhead. It was by far the worst experience she had ever been through, being so lost and having to rely completely on instinct was terrifying. So it had been such a comfort when she had finally been able to put a face to the name Alice had said that first night, K-Mart. "And being able to remember you gave me hope that eventually all my memories would come back."

Claire was more than a little embarrassed by her admission. She'd never even told Alice about how scared she had been when she couldn't remember anything. All she'd wanted to do was make K-Mart understand how important she was to the her and now all those insecurities from that time were resurfacing. But those feelings vanished when suddenly K-Mart was engulfing the redhead in a bone crushing hug. Claire smiled slightly and gently patted the blonde on the back.

When the blonde pulled away she picked up the hammer from the ground, and after eyeing the motorcycle for a moment she handed the tool back to Claire. "You wouldn't really have let me destroy it would you?"

"Fuck no, I was totally bluffing" she answered, smirking at the teen.

"How did you know I wouldn't do it?"

Claire winked. "Because I know you. You're my K-Mart, and I know that no matter how much you hate that thing you would never take it away from me." The redhead then went to return the hammer to the shed and when she returned found that the teen had carefully replaced the tarp over her bike. Grinning from ear to ear she slung an arm over K-Mart's shoulders. "I knew you'd come around K."

The blonde crossed her arms again and tried not to smile but Claire easily saw through the facade. "Yeah, well I'll still be happy when winter gets here and you can't ride it all the time anymore."

This time Claire let the comment slide and ushered her favourite teenager back into the house. K-Mart followed her down the basement stairs and the redhead wasn't surprised to see Alice still hard at work. Claire gave the brunette a slight nod when they made eye contact and Alice smiled in understanding. The trio worked in relative silence for the next half hour until the blonde unexpectedly let out an excited squeal.

K-Mart had spotted a strangely shaped container in the corner of the room and waded through the piles of stuff to investigate. Shifting the boxes which were precariously placed on top, her efforts rewarded when she was able to pull it out of the mess. "Oh my gosh!" the blonde squealed with delight and the redhead whipped her head in the teen's direction.

"What did you find?"

"Look!" she dragged the large object out from the corner. She revealed a guitar case which she placed on top of an empty box. Opening the case allowed her to see a beautiful six string acoustic guitar. "It's beautiful," she observed.

"Uh," the redhead hesitated. "It's a nice instrument K, but we don't play."

"I know someone who does!" she said excitedly, shutting the lid and standing up, making her way towards the stairs and muttering something that Claire couldn't quite hear but was pretty certain she caught Seth's name a couple of times.

"Where are you going? We're not even close to finished!" Claire protested.

"I'll be back in a bit! It's not as if we were going to finish this today anyway." She called over her shoulder and ran up the stairs. "Bye Alice! Bye Claire!"

A stunned Claire stared at the staircase long after K-Mart was gone. "How do you like that? She gives me crap for ignoring her in favour of my new toy and then she goes off and does the same."

"At least you made up right?" Alice offered, effectively pulling the redhead's attention away from the stairs.

"Yeah, you were right. She was jealous of the bike."

"K-Mart just likes to know she's loved, so as long as you keep reminding her of that it won't matter how much time you spend with that thing."

Claire nodded absently and thought about the conversation she'd had with the blonde outside about their missing memories.

_Lying in bed, tucked away in the middle of the ship, Claire couldn't sleep. Even without her memories she was pretty sure that she hadn't slept in a proper bed for a really long time._ _They were supposedly safe now, according to Alice. With Wesker dead Umbrella was finished, though the redhead had absolutely no idea what any of it meant. She rolled onto her back, placing her hands behind her head as she stared up at the ceiling. She didn't feel safe, and while that had been a constant the last few days it really bothered Claire now. _

_Claire shut her eyes willing for sleep to overtake her, but her mind was still racing. Memories were slowly starting to trickle back but it wasn't happening nearly fast enough for her liking. The redhead still felt like she was missing a crucial memory. One that once she remembered she was sure would put her restless mind at ease. Maybe it was Chris? She was starting to believe that Chris really was her brother_ _even though she still had no recollection of the man before today._ _As she thought about him, Claire realized that it wasn't Chris she needed to remember. These feelings she was having stemmed back for days, to when she'd woken up tied to that plane. _

_Alice. The redhead felt something in her stomach flutter at just thinking the other woman's name. She was the one person Claire really wanted to remember. Alice had said they were friends but something felt off, as if Alice had held something back. Claire was beginning to suspect that their relationship wasn't strictly platonic. Just because she couldn't remember things didn't mean she couldn't recognize the attraction she felt for the brunette. Then again, it could very well just be one sided and the redhead didn't want to risk making a fool of herself by saying or doing the wrong thing. She huffed in frustration, thinking everything would be easier if she could just remember that one thing she'd forgotten, that one memory that would make everything make sense again._

_A soft knocking on the door stirred the redhead from her musings. "Come in." The door opened and a shy looking K-Mart appeared. Claire smiled at the younger girl. "Can't sleep?" The blonde shook her head so Claire beckoned her into the room. Claire sat up, swinging her legs over the side and sitting on the edge of the bed. She patted the space next to her and K-Mart smiled sheepishly as she joined the redhead. It was awkward for the first few minutes. They supposedly had been travelling together for years but neither could remember the other very well yet. The best Claire could recall was driving a large yellow vehicle in a desert with the young blonde sitting next to her. It wasn't much, but it was a start and it was a lot more memory than she had for Alice and Chris so far._

"_Are you feeling alright?" Claire asked and when K-Mart nodded she realized she had yet to hear the teen speak. Claire wondered if that was a normal aspect of their relationship but something in her gut told her that wasn't right. "Can you remember anything yet?" Again the blonde opted for shaking her head rather than a verbal response._ _Claire slowly reached out and laid a hand over the blonde's where it was resting on the bed between them. "Don't worry K, I'm sure the memories will all return in time. Mine have already started coming back."_

_Her attempt to reassure the blonde seemed to be working and K-Mart now gave her a relieved smile. "Really?"_

_The redhead grinned widely at finally getting K-Mart to speak. "Yep. Just give it some time and it will all come back. And maybe one day you and I can laugh about this whole thing, though probably not since it sucks losing your memories."_

_K-Mart nodded again and stood up from the bed. She was halfway to the door when she turned around to face the redhead. "Thanks Claire. Even though I can't remember you, I'm really glad we're friends."_

"_Me too K, me too."_

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><p><em>Every night of their first two weeks on the Arcadia continued to be a struggle for Claire. She constantly felt restless, as if there was something important that she had forgotten to do, and still not being able to remember it made her frustrated and cranky. Every night Claire would toss and turn in her bed, waiting in vain for sleep to claim her and it was never until the early hours of the morning that she would finally be able to doze off.<em>

_But after two weeks Claire was completely fed up. Rolling over one last time the redhead opened her eyes_,_ admitting defeat. She slipped out of the bed and tugged on her boots. She couldn't stand to spend one more night not being able to fall asleep no matter how exhausted she was. Due to the late hour, the redhead wandered the halls of the ship completely alone. She wasn't sure of what she was looking for, knowing only that what she desperately needed was a distraction. As she walked by the entrance to the common room something caught her eye, or rather someone._

_Alice was sitting all alone at a table. All her weapons were laid out in front of her and the brunette was currently cleaning out one of her coin shooting shot guns that had saved both their lives just weeks ago from that thing with the giant axe. Claire watched completely fascinated as the woman worked meticulously and the redhead suspected she had witnessed this ritual in the past, though she still couldn't be sure. Memories of K-Mart and Chris had returned in full but the brunette was still a mystery to Claire._

_After several long minutes she slowly entered the room and sat down at the table. "I thought we were safe here?" Claire asked, not understanding why the brunette was performing such a tedious task in the middle of the night._

_Alice looked up and shrugged. "We are, it's just that old habits die hard I guess." She tried to give the redhead a reassuring smile but it didn't reach her eyes._

"_Is that the only reason?" Claire pressed further. _

"_Well, I haven't been able to sleep lately either and there's not much else to do around here in the middle of the night."_

_Claire's brow furrowed in confusion. Alice was having trouble sleeping too? It didn't make much sense to Claire, the brunette was the most well adjusted person she knew. No matter what had happened since they had been reunited in Alaska Claire had yet to see Alice bat an eye at anything thrown her way. _

_Alice chuckled at her look of confusion and Claire scowled. "What's so funny?"_

"_Nothing, it's just the look on your face when you're confused, it's.." Alice trailed off._

"_It's what?"_

"_Nothing, don't worry about it." Alice cleared her throat slightly and quickly changed the subject. "So what about you? What are you doing wandering around at this time of night?"_

"_I can't sleep either." Claire shrugged as if it were perfectly normal. "Not since we got here actually. I just keep feeling like there's something I forgot to do and it keeps me awake trying to remember what it is."_

"_It's probably something to do with the memory loss. You shouldn't worry about it, if it's really important it'll come back."_

"_I just wish I knew what it was. Whatever it is feels like it's really important."_

_Alice nodded sympathetically. "I know it sucks, I've lost my memories before too. But trust me, it will all be alright eventually."_

_There was something in Alice's tone that Claire couldn't place but it sounded so familiar. She racked her brain but just like every other time she came up empty. She threaded her fingers throw her long red hair and sighed in frustration. "I believe you Alice, it's just frustrating."_

_Alice set aside her now forgotten weapon and reached out to lay a hand on the redhead's arm. The touch caused a familiar stirring within Claire but her memory of it was still elusive. "I wish there was something I could do to help, but it's my experience to just let these things take care of themselves. I'm sure it will all be back soon," the brunette reassured. _

"_K-Mart has all her memories back," Claire said with more than a hint of jealousy in her voice but she couldn't bring herself to care enough to hide it. _

"_You have most of yours don't you?"_

_The redhead nodded. "Most of them. High school is still a little fuzzy, but there's really only one person I can't remember." She locked eyes with Alice. "You."_

_Alice didn't seem to know what to do with this information and released the hold she had on Claire's arm. Eventually the brunette let out a slight chuckle. "Maybe your mind doesn't want to remember me."_

_Claire frowned at the other woman's words. "But I want to." _

"_Then you will, just give it some time. That's really all you can do anyway."_

"_I guess. Maybe some sleep would help." Claire stood up from the table, "if I can actually get some sleep." She smiled at Alice, feeling much better about the whole thing. Alice was right, it would all come back eventually. If K-Mart had all her memories back then the rest of hers should return soon as well. "Thanks Alice. You've been a big help." She started to walk away and was almost at the door when she heard the other woman call out to her._

"_Goodnight Claire."_

_The redhead looked over her shoulder to see Alice staring at her and Claire felt her heart clench. "Goodnight Alice." The brunette let her gaze linger before turning back to her table and picking up her shot gun again._

_Claire left the common room and made her way back through the halls, intending on returning to her room and face her battle with sleep. With every step she took there was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind. She replayed her conversation with Alice over in her mind but nothing struck a chord. Maybe if she stopped trying to force it the memories would come back easier. She took a deep breath and reached out to let her fingers brush against the wall as she slowly walked the halls. She needed to calm down, obsessing over not being able to remember Alice was sort of ridiculous. Claire had been happy when last week she'd been able to remember the time Chris had taught her to play baseball and how Otto could tell what was in each food can just by shaking it, but it wasn't enough for Claire. She wanted to remember how she'd met Alice, and what their friendship had been like, and how she'd ended up in Alaska without the brunette. _

_As she thought about the other woman the image of Alice's lingering gaze from just a few minutes ago appeared in Claire's mind. The look was almost identical to the one she'd given Claire as the helicopter took off all those months ago. Claire had thought her heart was breaking with every second she flew the helicopter away from Alice, the only thing that had kept her going was her responsibility to make sure the others were safe and that Alice had chosen to remain behind. The only thing that made separating from Alice harder had been that it was the brunette's choice to stay behind and try to stop Umbrella._

_Claire stopped walking, completely frozen in place. She had just remembered all of those things. She hadn't had those memories yesterday, or even ten minutes ago, she was certain of it. But now it was all there; Alice stopping the birds with the fire, Alice riding in the hummer with her and K-Mart, Alice and her together. Claire remembered it all and all it had taken was one lingering look from her girlfriend. Girlfriend, Claire smiled at the word. Alice was her girlfriend. The more she thought about it the better it sounded. Suddenly all the feelings she'd been experiencing since Alice had found her in Alaska made sense. The physical attraction, the magnetic pull, all the times she'd caught herself staring at Alice; her body had remembered what her mind had temporarily forgotten._

_She spun around and began heading back the way she'd come but her pace was much quicker. She finally remembered Alice and was not about to waste another second away from the woman she loved. The redhead also remembered that she and Alice had not actually said 'I love you' yet but at that moment she had never been more certain of her feelings._

_Claire once again appeared in the doorway of the common room, she came face to face with Alice who had all her weapons packed up and was on her way to the door. The brunette stopped at the sight of Claire and cocked her head to the side in slight amusement. "You're back." It was a statement more than a question and the familiarity of it caused the redhead to grin._

"_I forgot something in here."_

_Brunette eyebrows knitted in confusion and Alice cast her gaze back to the table where they had been sitting. "What did you forget?" She asked when she didn't see anything._

_Claire quickly took the necessary steps until she stood directly in front of her girlfriend. "You," was all she stated before launching herself at Alice and bringing their lips together in a kiss both women had been waiting months to receive. She felt Alice's hands on her instantly, and Claire wrapped her arms around the brunette tightly. She clawed at Alice possessively, causing Alice to grin into the kiss. Kissing Alice was just like Claire remembered, the brunette was always so eager and at the same time so gentle. When the redhead was finally forced to pull back to catch her breath Alice continued to pepper kisses over her face and along her neck as her hands tried to be everywhere at once._

"_I've missed you," Alice whispered "so much."_

_Claire couldn't believe she had ever forgotten about Alice, that she could have forgotten about them. "I'm so sorry Alice."_

_After leaving another breathless kiss against the redhead's lips Alice pulled away only far enough to lean their foreheads together. "It's not your fault Claire. I knew that when the memories came back I'd have you back too." Alice cupped her cheek and Claire leaned into the touch. "I'll admit it's been hard, I haven't been able to sleep without you."_

_Claire kissed her again, and then again, and then a third time. "I promise you'll be able to sleep tonight. I'm going to be right beside you to make sure." Claire drifted back, but didn't get very far with Alice's strong arms still wrapped firmly around her. The redhead gave her a wicked grin. "But before we sleep I think we have a lot of...reacquainting to do, don't you?"_

_Alice matched her grin. "Your room, or mine?"_

"_Not my room, our room." Claire emphasized the our part and was rewarded by Alice rushing them out the door._

"_Our room it is."_

When Claire pulled herself out of the memory she found that Alice had filled several more boxes while she had been day dreaming. The redhead smiled sheepishly at getting herself so distracted when she had been the one insisting on cleaning the room in the first place.

Alice sidled up next to her. "You okay? You were like a million miles away for a while."

Claire didn't answer the question, rather posing one of her own. "Would you have ever told me?"

"Told you what?" It wasn't often that Alice was the confused one and at any other time Claire would have found the face Alice was making quite comical; but the memories she'd been thinking about had brought out several important questions.

"When I'd lost my memories, you didn't tell me about us."

Alice shrugged. "I was a stranger to you then. What good could it have done except make you feel uncomfortable and pressured? That wasn't what I wanted. I'd hoped you would remember in time, which you did. But even if you didn't I knew that at least I had a chance to win you over again."

"I bet you would have too. I felt pulled to you in ways I couldn't explain, and it confused me to no end. If you had told me we'd been together I could have understood things a lot sooner."

Alice looked unconvinced. "Maybe, but I don't think you should ever try to force things when it comes to the mind and the heart." Alice then took Claire's hand and led the redhead over to the stairs and they sat down on the bottom step. She gave Claire's hand a gentle squeeze, "I thought not telling you was the right thing to do."

"It must have really hurt you for me not to remember."

"It did," she wrapped an arm around the redhead pulling her close. "But that only made me even more happy when you finally did remember."

Claire snuggled into Alice's side. "I never want to forget again."

"You won't. I won't let you." Alice's voice was thick with conviction and Claire knew it was more than just a reassurance, it was a promise.


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: Same as always, Resident Evil is not mine.**

I haven't been giving a lot of feedback so please indulge me for a moment:

**Rogue: **Wow, that is a really nice compliment, not sure if I deserve it but thank you very much.

**ShadowClub:** You bring up some very valid points, maybe I should just have everyone freeze to death but I don't think that would make for a very satisfying ending. I haven't forgotten about the zombies though and we will be seeing some again pretty soon.

**CloudGazer15: **I liked the flashback too, it was a last minute addition and I'm really glad I did it. Thanks for reading!

**RockChick11: **I'm glad you like the story, and since I know you're checking I'll try to update more often!

**Pieman3: **I thought some people might have suspected a proposal, but I may or may not have plans for that later. Also, there _is_ someone stupid enough to try and steal one of them away, but we are still a few chapters away from that.

**A/N:** Special thanks to everyone who keeps reading even though my updates have become less consistent. Enjoy the chapter, and as always reviews are welcome and appreciated!

**A/N2: **I apologize for the long wait, and for giving you this filler chapter but it necessary to get the plot moving again.

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><p>No amount of planning could have prepared the survivors for the amount of snow that was dumped on their settlement, showing the early signs of winter. It began midway through October, with three feet falling in the first few days and it didn't let up for almost two weeks. Everyday the survivors were forced to brave the outdoors and clear the streets as much as possible in order to get around. K-Mart, like the others who had never experienced snow before was finding the weather conditions particularly difficult.<p>

"It is so cold out there." The blonde complained as she and Claire entered the house, stomping their feet on the mat to remove the excess snow from their boots.

Claire immediately moved into the living room and picked up the fire poker, sticking it into the dying flames and stirring them back to life before adding a new log to the burning pile. "I thought you were all excited for the snow to come?"

"That was before it actually came! I thought the sand in the desert was bad but this! I just can't, it's so cold and wet, and cold!" K-Mart was in the process of trying to free herself from the overabundant number of layers she'd bundled herself in before they'd left the house earlier.

"I think it's sort of pretty," Claire commented from her place in front of the now roaring fire, trying not to laugh as the blonde tried to untangle herself from three separate scarves. She agreed that the snow was sort of a pain in the ass, there was the constant need for shovelling just so they could get around the village and no one could venture out after dark because the temperatures fell too low for anyone to stand but if that was the price to pay for the safety of their seclusion from the undead then Claire was not going to complain.

"Sure it looks nice when it falls but once it's on the ground is a whole other story." K-Mart prattled on. "It just never stops. It's been snowing for almost two weeks straight and has barely let up..." she trailed off when Claire held up a hand to silence her.

The redhead pressed a finger over her lips telling the teen to keep quiet as she looked up at the ceiling. She thought she'd heard a noise, it had been faint but she was positive there had been something. K-Mart was about to open her mouth and ask what was wrong when they both heard the sound, this time it was louder. It sounded almost like groaning, as if the house was in pain, and it was definitely coming from the ceiling.

"What is it?" K-Mart voiced her confusion.

"The roof," Claire stated matter-of-factly. "It's the snow pushing down on the roof. Come on." She motioned for the blonde to follow and it was with great reluctance that K-Mart replaced her layers of warmth and followed the redhead back out into the cold. The pair stood in the shovelled pathway connecting the house to the street and stared up at their home. There was easily over a foot of snow that had fallen on the roof and piled up over the past couple of weeks. "If we don't take the snow off it's going to make the roof cave in."

"And how are we going to take the snow off the roof?" K-Mart questioned, a hint of scepticism in her voice.

Claire smirked at the blonde. "Give me a boost and then get out of the way." She dragged K-Mart back over to the porch and with the blonde's assistance was able to climb up onto the roof. "Throw me the shovel K." Claire instructed and then began knocking the snow over the sides of the house. K-Mart stood at the edge of the path and watched the redhead work, acting as a spotter in case something should go wrong.

It was almost an hour of work but Claire was able to knock most of the snow off, reducing much of the weight pushing down on their roof. Satisfied with the accomplishment, Claire went to cross the roof and get down the way she had climbed up when she suddenly found herself on her back and sliding towards the edge. Reaching out in a vain attempt to find something to grab onto she soon felt the roof disappear beneath her and knew she was falling. It all happened so fast that all the redhead knew was that one moment she was on the roof and the next she was in a snow bank with a throbbing pain in her left leg.

"Fuck," she groaned but her grumbles were soon over powered by K-Mart's frantic screams.

"Claire!" the blonde shrieked and waded through the waist-deep snow on the lawn before she fell to her knees beside the redhead. "Are you okay?"

"I just fell off the roof K, of course I'm not okay." She clutched at her leg and knew right away that she had more than just a bump for damage. "Did you see what happened?"

"There must have been some ice under the snow cause you slipped. Is your leg okay? You hit the porch railing on your way down."

That explained the pain her leg, it was most likely broken. The house was only one story and the snow was pretty soft, but falling off the roof still hurt like hell and she was starting to feel sore everywhere. Claire tried not to show the pain for K-Mart's sake but it hurt like a bitch. "I'll be alright K, just help me stand up and get inside."

It took the pair almost ten minutes to get up the porch stairs and into the house, with Claire leaning heavily on the young blonde every step of the way. K-Mart helped the redhead get settled on the couch, laying down with her injured leg elevated over the arm rest. With shaking hands the blonde carefully removed Claire's boots and rolled the pant leg up for closer inspection.

"You're not bleeding."

"Well that's very reassuring," Claire spat through clenched teeth. The pain was pretty bad and just because she wasn't bleeding didn't mean anything. "What does it look like?"

"It's starting to turn purple and there's a large bump. Tell me if this hurts," K-Mart instructed and before Claire could stop her the blonde reached out and poked the protruding bruise. Claire yelped loudly and nearly kicked the teen in the face.

"Don't fucking do that again!" she growled and pushed herself further into the couch and away from the blonde. "It's fucking broken."

"What do we do?" K-Mart had taken several steps away at the redhead's outburst and looked to be on the verge of panic.

"You better go get some help. Chris will probably know what to do, and if you can find Alice that would be good too." The teen nodded and bolted towards the door but stopped when Claire called her back. "Hey K!" K-Mart turned and looked at the redhead curiously. "You were right about the snow, it sucks!" Claire grumbled and winced as another surge of pain shot through her leg.

K-Mart was back at the house in less than fifteen minutes, returning not only with Chris and Alice but also Mrs. Parker's much less annoying husband in tow. Mr. Parker was their designated doctor as he had been a veterinarian before the outbreak and was the closest thing they had to an actual physician. Fortunately for Claire, K-Mart had filled them in so she didn't have to explain the embarrassment of how she had fallen off the roof while shovelling snow. Mr. Parker examined her leg for several long minutes without speaking and it was amazing to Claire how someone so quiet could be married to someone so obnoxiously nosey.

Alice stood next to the couch behind Claire's head and observed the scene silently. And even though she was looking at her girlfriend upside down Claire could easily make out the subtle glare that would appear in Alice's eyes every time Mr. Parker touched the redhead's leg. Seeing these hints of jealousy from Alice was almost enough to make Claire forget about the constant pain and she was careful not to make any sounds of discomfort as the doctor examined her less Alice beat him to a pulp thinking he had hurt the redhead further.

It was Chris who was the first to break the silence. "So what do you think Parker?"

"Her leg is broken," he stated.

"No shit." Claire muttered, rolling her eyes. The last thing she needed was someone telling her something she already knew.

"I don't have the equipment to make a proper cast," he continued, ignoring Claire's sarcasm. "I can make a splint to help set the bone but it means you'll have even more limited mobility."

Claire sighed in frustration. "Great. Just fucking great."

"How long until she's back on her feet?" Chris, ever the big brother instantly went into full parental concern.

Mr. Parker thought it over and took a step away from the couch before answering. "Anywhere from six weeks to two months."

Claire thought it was smart of him to move away because at hearing his response she wanted to break something. "Two months! I can't sit on my ass for two months! I won't do it!" She even tried to sit up then but was quickly held down by Alice placing her hands on the redhead's shoulders.

"If you don't do it the leg won't heal properly and you'll make it worse. We can get you some crutches or a cane for moving around the house but that's it. I'm sorry Claire."

Claire sighed again and closed her eyes. "Yeah, me too."

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><p>K-Mart let out a sigh of relief when she peeked over the top of her book and saw that Claire had fallen asleep. The first month of bedridden Claire had been hell; the redhead was impatient on the best of days but by not being able to move around and contribute like everyone else she became irritable and moody. The first week had been the worst with Claire ignoring the only rule she was suppose to follow and trying to hobble around, forcing K-Mart and Alice to take drastic action. To make sure Claire didn't try to leave, the blonde and Alice took turns sitting with the redhead and keeping her occupied as best they could but on some days there was really no consoling the injured woman. Alice was obviously much better at dealing with Claire on the days when she was most difficult but K-Mart was trying her best and this particular day had proven to be one of the more challenging ones so it was a great relief to see the redhead had finally tired herself out.<p>

K-Mart closed her book and carefully set it aside. As slowly as possible she stood up from the chair next to the bed she had grown so accustomed to the last four weeks and crept towards the door. Just one small noise was enough to wake the redhead and dealing with a grouchy Claire was the last thing K-Mart wanted at the moment. She took slow, deliberate steps down the hall, scared to even breath until she got to the living room and sank down into the couch, completely exhausted. Her own eyes drooped shut and just when she was on the verge of sleep the front door opened. Thinking it was Claire, the blonde shot up from the couch and raced towards the door, nearly colliding with a confused Alice who had just come inside.

"Oh, it's you." K-Mart sighed in relief at seeing the brunette.

"Long day K-Mart?"

"The worst one yet! She's sleeping now but I don't know how long it'll last. I don't think I could take another month of this Alice, she's completely miserable and it's making all of our lives unbearable! I swear, babies don't whine as much as she does these days."

Alice frowned slightly, "I really don't think it's been that bad."

"Of course you don't! She actually behaves for you without putting up a fight because she's in love with you," K-Mart rolled her eyes as if it were obvious.

"Well I'm here now so I'll take over and you can leave if you want. I know you haven't been able to see Seth in a few days so go have some fun." Alice motioned for the teen to run along and K-Mart could not move fast enough, completely forgetting about how tired she had been a moment ago.

"Thanks Alice!" K-Mart beamed at the brunette and quickly pulled on several more layers of clothing, coats, scarves, a hat and mittens before bolting out the front door.

She knew there were only three places she could expect to find her boyfriend; his house, the store, or at the school playing his music. She opted to try the school first as it was just across the street from her own home and therefore less time spent out in the freezing cold. She pulled open the front doors and stepped inside the school, immediately hearing the sound of music bouncing down the hall. K-Mart frowned in confusion as the music sounded much different than she was use to hearing. There was the unmistakable loud drumming which had not been present before and the blonde could not remember there being a drum set present the last time she'd been in here. The closer she got to the open classroom the louder the music got and when K-Mart stopped in the doorway the first thing she spotted was Seth standing with his back to her and strumming the guitar she'd found in their basement almost two months ago.

The second thing she noticed was the small drum set that had definitely not been present a few days ago, but what startled K-Mart even more was the figure who was currently seated at the instrument, drumming enthusiastically. It was that bastard Tim who had pushed her boyfriend off the boat and subsequently almost gotten Seth and Claire killed. She couldn't believe that Seth was hanging out with this creep, acting as if none of it had ever happened. The whole thing filled her with an anger she normally reserved for Claire's stupid motorcycle. The blonde took a few steps into the room, neither boy noticing her arrival as they were too focussed on creating the loud music.

"What the hell is going on here? !" K-Mart shouted and the music immediately stopped.

"Music?" Seth answered, turning around slowly which only fuelled K-Mart's anger further.

"Obviously," she said sarcastically sounding almost exactly like Claire. "Why are you playing with _him_?" She shot a glare at Tim and the other boy shrunk into himself under her stare.

"He came into the store the other day and we started talking about music. Someone had this drum set in their house and Tim's been teaching himself how to play. It's nice having someone to jam with." Seth explained, sounding kind of bored with the conversation and acting completely nonchalant about the situation.

K-Mart was burning up due to a combination of her many layers and intense anger, she was both perplexed and furious at Seth's behaviour. She didn't see him for a couple days and he becomes best friends with the guy who had first tried to take her away from Seth and then almost taken Seth from her by pushing him off the boat. "He almost killed you Seth!" She yelled, her voice escalating with every word.

Seth merely shrugged. "He apologized."

Her eyes widened in disbelief. "And you just forgave him? Just like that?" she snapped her fingers for emphasis.

Seth remained vague. "We came to an understanding."

Apparently Tim had found his voice. "I'm sorry K-Mart, I never meant for things to turn out the way they did–" but she cut him off.

"I don't want to hear it." Her tone was harsh, "I can't believe you Seth." She spat and then turned on her heel and left the room.

K-Mart stomped back across the street, muttering to herself the whole way. How could he do this to her? Didn't he know how scared she had been that day? She had not only almost lost Seth but Claire as well and here he was acting as if it had never happened! She kicked at the snow, cursing it even more as she strode across the front yard and back up the porch steps. She paused at the top long enough to glance over at the pile of wood which use to be the railing that had broken Claire's fall from the roof. K-Mart was certain of one thing at the moment; she'd rather deal with ten miserable Claires than look at Seth's stupid face. And with that thought in mind she threw the front door open and slammed it behind her as she entered the house.

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><p><strong>Yeah... I really am not a fan of this chapter but it's out of the way now so I'm pretty sure the next one will be better.<strong>


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: Resident Evil is not mine.**

**AN: **Thanks everyone for sticking with this story and I'm sorry for the long wait between updates, I got a little caught up in my other story but I'm back and will hopefully have another (longer) update of this ready by Monday. Please enjoy this (short) chapter for now.

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><p>"We have good news and bad news." Chris announced.<p>

"Good news first." Claire prompted, not at all looking forward to the following conversation.

"The good news is we got the generator in the community centre working, so we finally have a building with some semblance of working electricity."

The redhead nodded, this at least was a good sign for their struggling settlement. "And the bad news?"

"We have a problem." Luther spoke to the group who were gathered around the kitchen table at Claire's house. He was forced to stand when Claire used the extra chair at the table to unnecessarily prop up her injured leg, and except for a raised eyebrow from her brother, no one questioned her selfishness.

"What is it?" The redhead asked, a frown and furrowed brow gracing her face. She was tired of there always being a problem that needed fixing. She'd barely had a free moment in five years to relax and not have anything to worry about. Now they were all settled into their new homes and were trying to get through their first winter without further injury. She was even getting less annoyed at being forced to sit around all day and was just trying to enjoy life, and here was Luther ruining her plans. Maybe she should have just offered him the chair.

"Supplies." He explained, "part of the store's roof caved in and a bunch of the food was ruined. We might have just enough for the rest of winter but beyond that it doesn't look good."

"And we're going to need a lot more gasoline if we want to keep that generator up and running," Chris added but Claire failed to see a major issue at hand.

"Ok, so we send out a scavenging group." She answered with a shrug. This wasn't too big a problem, they could just clear out another small settlement near by.

Chris shook his head. "I think we need to do something big, otherwise will be in the same predicament by next winter and I think that's a bad situation to set ourselves up for."

Claire didn't always like how over prepared her brother liked to be. It was great to have someone like that around during the apocalypse, but sometimes she was sure he only did stuff like this because he was bored. "What do you suggest then?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"I think we should take the ship back down the coast and hit a major city. In hindsight I think we should have done this a long time ago."

"And who are you including in this _we_?"

Chris grinned at his younger sister. "I'm volunteering of course." She knew it! This was really about Chris getting his rocks off on having another mission to risk his life on. She was about to tell him off when another voice spoke up.

"I should go too." Alice said, glancing at the redhead sitting next to her.

Claire annoyance immediately dissipated in favour of worry, she didn't like the idea of Alice leaving for any reason, no matter what the cause. "Do you really think any of this is necessary?" Claire asked the brunette, then sighed when Alice nodded her head in agreement. "Then I'm coming too, Luther can be in charge while we're gone." Claire stated but saw the brunette shaking her head. "Why not?"

"We would have to leave soon, it can't wait until after winter. And your leg is still not fully healed."

"I'm fine."

"Alice is right Claire. You need to stay here and look after everyone and concentrate on getting better." Chris's attempt to make his sister see reason fell on deaf ears.

"So what, just you and Alice are going?"

Chris stood up from the table and without looking at his sister mumbled something the redhead could not hear.

"What? Just fucking spit it out Chris."

"I said Seth is coming too. Luther and I were talking about it last night and he overheard and asked if he could come."

"And you didn't say no? Are you trying to get him killed?" It was times like this that Claire wondered if she was the only sane person left on earth. "That kid is blind Chris!"

"We all know that Claire, but he thinks he owes me and Alice for finding him and he just wants to pay us back and feel useful. He's not a child and I refuse to treat him like one. But I will keep him out of danger, I promise."

This time Claire stood up from the table with her crutch and hobbled out the door. "I don't care what you do Chris but I'm not going to change my mind about this." She said over her shoulder and it was only once she was out in the hallway did she discover that K-Mart had been listening in on the entire conversation between the adults in the kitchen. "K," she began but the teen just shook her head and Claire watched as K-Mart walked the other way and a few minutes later heard the front door open and then close and she knew the blonde had left.

Once again cursing her injured leg for holding her back and not allowing her to follow the blonde, Claire made the rest of her way to her bedroom and gingerly laid down on the bed. She laid there for a long time before the door opened and Alice slowly slipped into the room. The brunette silently laid on her back next to the redhead and waited for Claire to speak.

The redhead continued to stare up at the ceiling, not even sure of where to begin. "I don't want you to leave." Claire finally breathed after an unprecedented length of silence passed between them.

"I don't want to leave either, but I'm doing this for everyone. Do you really think it would be fair to ask anyone here to volunteer for this type of mission? They're finally safe here, I couldn't ask anyone to potentially give that up."

"But it's ok for you to do it?" Claire snapped.

"You were willing to go," Alice gently reminded her. "And if it wasn't for your leg, I know that nothing I could say would make you stay behind."

"I wouldn't go if you weren't going. I don't want us to be separated again Alice." Her admission was met with silence and it made Claire nervous.

The redhead felt movement on the bed between them and soon found Alice's fingers intertwining with her own and she turned her head to lock eyes with her girlfriend. "I don't want that either. When I found you I swore to myself never again would I leave you, but if Chris and I don't do this everyone's going to die up here anyway, and then we would have failed."

"When does Chris want to leave?" Claire knew it would probably be soon and that her brother and Alice had most likely discussed it after she had left the kitchen.

"The day after tomorrow." The brunette answered solemnly but after a moment she let out a slight chuckle. "He originally wanted it to be first thing in the morning but I told him that wasn't possible."

"Why not?"

"Because I have plans to spend the entire day with you, right here in this bed."

Claire's eyes widened in horror and she shoved Alice's shoulder playfully. "You did not say that to him!"

"I sure did, and he and Luther left the house right away." Alice grinned and reached up to cup Claire's cheek. "Now come here. I don't know how long I'll be gone but I don't want to waste a second of the time I have left with you." She then leaned across the bed and pressed their lips together in the first of many kisses to come before their separation in a couple of days.

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><p>"Promise me that you guys won't be gone a second longer than necessary." Claire said as she hugged Chris goodbye.<p>

"I promise. Besides, even if I wanted to, there's no way to keep Alice from coming back."

The redhead let go of their embrace and poked her brother in the chest. "You had better keep an eye on that boy. I know K's going to be a mess the minute you guys leave even if she won't admit it." Claire had thought the two teens would have made up by now but if anything K-Mart seemed to have become more upset with Seth at finding out he was accompanying Alice and Chris on the trip. And while the redhead still thought taking Seth along was a terrible idea she sincerely hoped that the time away would wake the kid up to how much of an idiot he was being with K-Mart.

"I'll lookout for him." Chris reassured his sister.

"We both will." Alice said, stepping into view from behind the redhead. "K-Mart's not the only one who's attached to that boy."

Claire smiled, knowing her girlfriend was referring to Chris. Her brother was always so serious and had never shown the patience that was required with teenagers; but Chris had taken Seth under his wing so easily. The redhead had been surprised her brother hadn't given the teen any resistance when he insisted to going on the mission. It had shown her that Chris didn't have the type of sibling relationship she shared with K-Mart, but he thought of Seth as his friend, an equal and had respected the boy's decision. The redhead could also clearly see how much Alice cared for Seth as well. The brunette was a private person, especially about her history with Umbrella and the virus, but she had shared her story with Seth when he'd asked instead of brushing it off like she did with others in the village.

"I know I don't have to worry about you." she said to Alice, although it was a big lie. Claire knew she wasn't going to be able to sleep that night and that she would undoubtedly spend the next few weeks attempting to pace in frustration, despite her bad leg, about not knowing how the mission was going. She shook her head to temporarily clear her mind of future worries. "You ready to go?"

"Almost," Alice trailed off and both women were relieved when Chris took the hint and exited the front door, waiting for Alice outside.

Claire wrapped her arms around the brunette both for comfort as well as physical support due to her injured leg and pulled Alice as close as possible. "Promise me you'll come back in one piece," she whispered.

"I promise." Alice whispered back, so softly that Claire could only just make out the words.

The redhead leant back in the embrace just enough to look at Alice properly. "And just like I told Chris, you had better not be gone one second longer than absolutely necessary. It's bad enough that I'm stuck here injured but I'm also trapped here with a miserable teenager and Luther West!" Claire tried to joke but her own smile did not reach her eyes.

Alice smiled sadly. "I'll be back before you know it." She then kissed the redhead gently. "It will be alright Claire. We'll go, we'll come back, and if you want me to, I'll never leave again."

Claire hugged the brunette one last time, burying her face in Alice's neck and sighed. "Deal."


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: As always, I do not own Resident Evil.**

**AN: **Thanks for waiting for these updates, you guys are awesome and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

**AN2: **Another flashback in this chapter, it is in _italics_!

**AN3: **Just a note for anyone reading my other story: 'Fragments' will be updated as soon as possible and I apologize for the long delay.

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><p>It was two weeks before Alice, Chris and Seth made their first stop along the coast; the snow forcing them to travel further south than originally planned. They came across a rather large harbor filled with all different types of boats. The trio, along with Shep piled into the dingy and made their way to shore. Almost immediately from the second Alice jumped onto the dock, the undead began coming toward them. There wasn't a huge swarm but enough to be problematic. Alice cleared the first dozen away easily with her semi-automatic.<p>

"We should hurry up and find a vehicle before more of them arrive." She said, her gaze darting quickly from side to side, picking off a few that were further away. She glanced back at Seth who was now standing behind her on the deck. "Will you be ok following me kid?" If it had been up to her the boy wouldn't have left the ship but she had been outvoted by the two males.

He nodded and pulled a leash out of his coat pocket and attached it to Shep's collar. "We're following Alice, ok boy?" he said gently to the dog, rubbing his head. "Stay close to her." he instructed before standing up straight and addressing the brunette. "We're good."

"Let's go then." she ordered and began a brisk pace forward, leading the way while Chris brought up the rear carrying a long range rifle. When the group came to the parking lot at the harbor's entrance she scanned the lot before finding what she wanted, an SUV. She turned to Chris, "can you hot wire this?" She asked and when he nodded she used her gun to smash the driver side window and unlock the vehicle. "Get in Seth!" she instructed.

Alice ran around to the passenger side and climbed in as Seth opened the back door and waited for Shep to enter before climbing in behind. Chris got behind the wheel and his head disappeared underneath the dash. It was only seconds before the engine roared to life and they were on their way. As they drove through the streets Alice kept her window open and shot at any creature who got too close.

"Where are we going?" Seth asked from the back seat.

The brunette shrugged, "don't know yet. We need to find a department store, or a grocery store, or a sporting goods store, something like that."

"How about the mall?" Chris piped up and pointed to a large building in front of them.

"Won't it be crawling with those things?" Seth asked.

"Not if the outside is any indication." Alice noted. "The parking lot is filled with them so they must not be able to get inside." Then she said to Chris, "don't get too close yet, just circle the building and see if there's a spot where they aren't all clustered up."

They made a wide arch around the mall and found that most of the undead were gathered around the major entrances, and only a few stragglers near the loading bay.

"What do you want to do?" Chris asked Alice when he stopped the car fifty feet from the back loading dock. "And I don't think you should have them chase you again."

Instead of answering his question she asked her own. "Can you drive a transport truck?"

"Probably, why?" he replied, clearly confused.

"Go find one, one with an empty trailer and back it up to the loading dock." Then she turned to the back "come on kid, you're with me." She said as she got out of the SUV and Seth followed her lead. She spoke to Chris through the open window and held up one of the walkie talkies they'd brought from the ship. "Call me when you're outside and we'll let you in." He nodded and immediately drove off.

She and Seth ran to one of the back doors and Alice put a bullet through the lock, pulling open the door and ushering the teen and his dog inside the building.

When the door was closed they stood there in silence for a moment before Alice started laughing.

"What is it? Where are we?" Seth asked.

"I have no idea. Looks like you and I are in the same boat kid, it's so dark I can't see a thing."

"You didn't bring a flashlight? I thought you were someone who was prepared for anything." The teen said, chuckling lightly as well.

"I brought one, but Chris has it in the car." She replied.

Seth stood up a bit straighter. "Looks like I get to lead this time, or at least Shep and I get to lead. Stay close to me." He instructed and began to make his way through the room followed closely by the brunette who still had her gun drawn, listening intently for any signs of trouble. Shep stopped walking and let out a whine. "This must be the door," Seth muttered feeling along the wall in front of him until he found the handle. The door was unlocked and he and Alice stumbled out into the main part of the mall. "What do you see?" He asked Alice. "Can you see anything?"

"Yeah, we're in the mall, there's stores on each side. We might have to break the glass, the gates are all down and we can't get in."

"What do you want to do?"

"Make sure it's safe before we start looting." she replied. "Do you want to split up? I go one way you go the other? Or do you want to stick together?"

"I'll be okay, don't worry. We can split up, just point me in the right direction." he joked. "Come on Shep, we're looking for danger." The dog wagged his tail and began walking down the corridor, pulling his master behind him.

Alice watched the pair until they were out of sight, wondering if this was a good idea, then went in the opposite direction. She passed store after store, looking into the window of each one and making mental notes of the ones she wanted to come back to later.

She was walking through the food court when she heard a crash. Whipping her gun in the direction of the noise she waited but didn't hear anything else. It sounded like it had come from the place that use to sell sandwiches. Alice jumped the counter and went around into the kitchen area. She saw a table and metal pans spread out on the floor, probably the source of the crash. Then she heard a familiar sounding groan, following the sound she saw the open door of a walk in fridge. Taking a deep breath she lunged herself into the doorway, gun pointed and as she'd expected there was an undead standing inside; it turned in her direction and Alice could see that half of his face had already completely rotted away. When it saw her it let out a ghastly screech and tried to run at her, but one perfectly aimed bullet removed the rest of his face and the creature fell to the floor and did not get back up.

"That wasn't too bad." she said to herself. But then the realization crossed her mind, if there was at least one undead in the mall there could be others. "Shit! Seth." Then she ran out of the kitchen, jumped the counter again and ran back in the direction she had sent the teen. Alice booked it down the corridor, hoping the boy was alright, knowing perfectly well how much trouble she would be in with both Claire and K-Mart if anything happened to him.

She heard a lot of barking but couldn't see Seth or the dog yet. Sprinting as fast as she could she rounded another corner and saw the teen at the end of the hall. He was struggling to keep one of the creatures from biting him. He had let go of Shep's leash in favour of using both hands to grasp his stick so it was horizontally in front of him. The undead had a hold of the stick as well, was screaming in fury and was trying to bite Seth by sticking its head over the pole. Shep was barking off to the side and looked like he wanted to jump in and attack but Alice could hear Seth yelling to his dog.

"Stay Shep! Don't bite it!" He ordered and the dog kept alternating between moving forward and backward.

Alice couldn't get a clear shot because the teen was standing in between her and the creature. She ran forward but wasn't sure if she could get there in time. When she was only twenty feet away the creature loosened its grip on Seth's stick and the teen took the advantage to butt the creature in the head with the stick. As it stumbled back, he changed his grip and swung the stick like a baseball bat, and then – CRACK– the stick had hit its target and the creature fell to the floor. It didn't stay down for long, but Alice quickly placed a bullet in it's head before it could stand all the way up.

She closed the distance between her and the teen. Seth was breathing heavily from the exertion and Shep came up to the pair and licked Seth's hand. He patted the dog on its head absently and turned in Alice's direction.

"How close was I to dying?" He asked.

"Close enough that we will never mention this to K-Mart" she replied honestly.

"Thanks for saving me." He said, giving an appreciative smile.

"You were doing pretty well by yourself, but I'm glad I could help. Let's stick together from now on though, ok?"

"You don't need to convince me." He said shakily and she gave him an awkward pat on the back, not really sure how to console him. "If those things look half as bad as they smell, I'm happy I can't see them. So, did you find anything?" He asked, "or did I get all the fun?" he added with a forced smile, trying to get back to normal.

"I found one in the food court, so I guess we won't be eating here." She joked but Seth didn't laugh.

Suddenly there was static coming from Alice's walkie talkie, then Chris' voice could be heard. "Alice, you there? I'm outside with a truck. Over."

She brought the radio up to her mouth. "We're on our way, over." She gave Seth another pat on the back. "Come on, let's go get Chris so we can get the hell out of here.

"Toys, clothes, clothes, furniture..." Chris listed off the stores they walked by as they made their way through the mall after determining there were no more undead floating around. "Clothes, jewellery, clothes...Alice?" He asked when he noticed the brunette had stopped walking.

Alice had stopped on instinct, though she had no idea why and was now standing still in front of the jewellery store. "You go ahead" she said to Chris after a long moment of silence. "I'll catch up with you."

He seemed to accept this because he didn't question what was going on. "Ok, I'll be around." He held up his radio. "Let me know if you need anything." She nodded and he walked off.

She continued to stare at the glass window of the store front, completely aware of the fact that Seth had not followed Chris down the corridor and turned to face him.

"You want something from here kid?" She asked with a smirk.

He nodded. "Can we go in?" He asked and the next thing he heard was her gun shooting bullets to break the store window. Seth startled at the noise and Shep barked, "Shit Alice! Give a guy some warning!"

"Sorry," she replied with a shrug. The brunette helped Seth climb through the window. "Stay" she said to the dog, not wanting him to cut his paws on the broken glass. Shep obeyed and sat down, watching them from outside the store. "What is it you want to get for K?"

"I don't know," he hesitated. "What do you give a girl to tell her you're sorry?"

"Flowers, I think. I don't have much experience with that kind of thing."

"Well what do you do when Claire's mad at you?"

"Apologize?" Alice thought it over but couldn't come up with a better answer. She and Claire didn't fight very often, the redhead would occasionally get frustrated with some of the things Alice did but seemed to have much more patience for her than anyone else. And when they did argue it was never anything some amazing make up sex couldn't fix, but Alice didn't think that was the answer Seth was looking for.

"I don't think an apology will be enough. K-Mart was really pissed at me for hanging out with Tim, and she didn't say goodbye to me when we left...I really screwed up Alice."

"K-Mart is only mad because she's hurting. I know that the day we pulled you and Claire out of the water was one of the scariest moments of my life, things could have easily turned out different and I could have lost her. I can only imagine that K-Mart felt something similar, so for you to hang out with the person responsible and act like nothing is wrong is kind of a slap to the face. It's like you don't respect the way she feels."

"But I didn't know she felt that way!" The teen ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the dark locks. "I am such an idiot, aren't I?"

"You won't get an argument from me kid, but it's not too late to fix this. Just talk to her when we get back," she paused for a moment. "And apologize profusely, that couldn't hurt either. And since we're at the mall an 'I'm sorry I was such an idiot please forgive me' gift might be a good idea too. But not jewellery, it needs to be something more personal, something that shows how well you know her." Alice had no idea if the advice she was giving was any good, but it sounded about right and it was what she would do if she ever really messed things up with Claire.

Seth nodded slowly, taking in all the information. "So...what are you getting for Claire? That's why you stopped here right?"

"Yeah, I don't know what I'm looking for though." Her eyes scanned the nearby display cases and not seeing anything interesting she began to move around the room, continuing her search. The pair remained silent as Alice searched the store without much luck, and she was starting to think about forgetting the whole thing when the teen spoke up again.

"When did you know you were in love with Claire?"

Alice stared at the teenager for a moment. "I'm not answering that." It was something she'd never even admitted to the redhead so there was not a chance in hell she'd share that information with Seth. "Why do you want to know?"

He coughed "K-Mart and I, we, um... haven't even said I love you yet," he said blushing bright red.

"But you want to?"

"I think so. I thought she would say it first and that would make things easier, but then she didn't and I know she sure as hell isn't going to say it now. It's not going to be the first thing I'm going to say when we get back, I want to make things up to her first; but it is something I've been thinking about for a while. I think maybe it's part of the reason I pushed her away, I wasn't ready then but I am now. I just don't know how to go about it."

Alice thought back to one particular evening not so long ago. "I just said it. We'd been together for a while but nothing was ever really discussed you know? It was before we found you. Claire was in the control room on the _Arcadia,_ she was pretty pissed off because Luther wouldn't stop flirting with me." She chuckled at the memory. "She can be so jealous" she said wistfully before her tone became serious. "Don't get me wrong, I would probably maim anyone who looked at her the way Luther was staring at me. Anyway, she was blowing off some steam so I went to see her and found her in the control room staring out the window. I stood next to her but she wouldn't look at me, I think she was mad at me for not punching Luther in the face like she'd wanted me to do for weeks." Alice shook her head with a smile. "I told her she didn't have to worry about Luther or anyone else because I loved her and there would never be anyone else for me."

Seth just stood there in silence when she finished. "And what did Claire do?" he asked when he finally responded.

"She jumped me and we had sex on the table." She stated with a shrug, not embarrassed at all. She left out the part where Claire had said it back first but there were some memories she wanted to keep just for herself.

Seth just nodded slowly, his face cringed at the blunt information but Alice didn't see it as she continued her search for something she didn't even know she was looking for.

Her eyes gazed across another display case before something caught her attention. "Watch yourself," she warned before bringing the butt of her weapon down, breaking the glass of the display case. She pulled out the item she'd spotted and turned it over and over as she inspected it. She didn't know why, but it was perfect, the exact thing she had no idea she was looking for. Alice pocketed the object carefully and rejoined Seth by the smashed window. "I'm all finished here, let's go catch up with Chris."

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><p>Late that night after a long day of gathering supplies, Alice lay awake in the same bed she had shared with Claire aboard the <em>Arcadia<em> not so long ago. It was the closest she could get to the redhead without actually being with her at the moment. The room held some very fond memories and it helped ease the unrest she felt at being away from Claire once again. With her eyes well adjusted to the dark, Alice stared up at the ceiling and thought about her conversation with Seth earlier that day. _'When did you know you were in love with Claire?'_ The questioned burned through her mind over and over. In all honesty, Alice didn't really have an answer. There was never one specific moment she could recall in which her feelings had changed from casual romantic interest into love. All she really knew for sure was that she had been in love with the redhead for a long time before she had actually spoken the actual words to the redhead.

The first time she had said it really had been to soothe the redhead's jealousies over Luther's unwanted advances, but funny enough Alice had found the words had affected her just as much as Claire. Not to mention the look on the redhead's face when Alice had said it was something she would never forget.

_The four adults and K-Mart were seated at the same table in the cafeteria after diner discussing their future plans now that they had a large group of survivors and were free of the Umbrella Corporation. It had been nearly three and a half weeks since they'd come aboard the ship and everyone had started falling into a routine, especially Alice and Claire. Now that the redhead had all of her memories back she and Alice were making up for lost time and it wasn't unusual to find the pair together. Of course no one else seemed to have caught on to what was actually going on, except for K-Mart who had promised to keep that information to herself._

_Alice and Claire hadn't been purposely trying to hide their relationship. Alice didn't really have anyone to tell, and Claire was still trying to get use to having Chris around and she didn't want to spring this on him just when everyone was getting adjusted to post-apocalypse life._ _The only problem with not having their relationship out in the open was Luther and his obvious crush on the brunette. And it seemed that no matter how much Alice brushed him off, the man could not seem to take the hint that she wasn't interested. _

"_I was looking for you earlier Alice." The former basketball star said. "I went by your room a couple of times but you were never there. I guess I just missed you."_

_The truth was that Alice hadn't been back to that room since the night Claire's memories had come back. "I guess so," she replied, not offering anything further to explain her whereabouts. "Was there something in particular that you needed Luther?"_

_He frowned slightly. "Not exactly, I just thought," he trailed off leaving the sentence hanging in the air. "What about later?" His smile was firmly back in place. "Can we talk later?"_

"_Aren't you talking right now?" Claire interjected._

"_I meant privately," Luther elaborated as he raised a curious eyebrow at the redhead before turning his attention back to Alice. "Would that be alright?"_

"_I think I might be busy later_" _Alice sounded bored, she was getting sick of dodging Luther`s advances. If it was up to her she would just tell him to fuck off because she had Claire and there was no chance in hell of anything happening between them. But with Chris and Claire sitting at the table Alice knew it wasn't just up to her._

"_Well if you change your mind you know where to find me." His disappointment was evident but he still wasn't giving up._

_Claire however, had finally had enough. "She's not going to change her mind, in fact I think she might be busy every night from now on so I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you."_

_Luther waved off the redhead with a casual smirk. "If you really were Alice's friend you wouldn't try to hold her back from a good thing."_

_Alice could feel the redhead next to her shaking with pent up rage and was amazed that Claire hadn't exploded yet. She was even more surprised to hear Claire attempting to keep her voice calm. "You think you're the best she can do?"_

"_I know the pickings are slim nowadays but I was considered a pretty decent catch before the world went to hell."_

"_You're not the only option Luther and in any case,_ _Alice has already made up her mind."_

"_No offence Claire, but this really isn't any of your business." _

"_It is when we're talking about my girlfriend!"_ _And there it was, Claire's breaking point. Alice could see it coming but hadn't expected the redhead to blurt out the true nature of their relationship right there at the table in front of everyone. _

_After her sudden outburst Claire stood up, storming out of the room, still furious with Luther's presumptuous attitude; leaving Alice at the table with a stunned Chris as well as a smirking K-Mart. Luther spluttered, speechless for the first time in his life._

"_How long has this been going on?" Chris asked when he finally found his voice._

"_A while," was Alice's vague reply. "There was a bit of a rough patch when we got separated and Claire lost her memories but ever since she got them back we've been together."_

_Chris nodded in understanding. "And when was she going to tell me?"_

_The brunette shrugged. "When she thought the time was right? I don't know, but I doubt she had planned for it to be like this." She was surprised at how well the older Redfield was taking the news._

_Chris finally noticed K-Mart sitting quietly off to the side. "You knew about this too?" She nodded, trying to hide her grin. "I don't really like being the last to know things about my own sister." He locked eyes with Alice. "I mean, it's not news to me that Claire likes women but I am a little surprised to find out you two have been sneaking around."_

"_We weren't sneaking, we just weren't telling people what we were up to." Alice defended. Sneaking sounded dirty and that was not something she wanted equated with her relationship with the redhead. She stood up from the table. "I'm going to check on her, make sure she's alright. Can you talk to her about this later Chris?" He nodded and she left, not saying a word to Luther who was still sitting in shock at the revelation._

_Alice checked their bedroom first, but the redhead wasn't there. She then searched the common room, again coming up empty before heading up to the control room. Claire, standing completely rigid, was staring out the window, though Alice doubted how much she could see given how dark it was outside. She sidled up to the redhead and the two stood in silence in front of the window for several minutes. When the redhead's stance finally relaxed Alice wrapped an arm around her girlfriend, pulling her close until Claire melted into her embrace._

"_I'm not mad at you, you know." Claire said gently, all evidence of her previous rage vanishing._

"_I know." Alice sighed. "And you know that I'd never ever hook up with Luther right?"_

_Claire chuckled. "I know, I just...he makes me so mad with his smug face, thinking one line will have you falling at his feet."_

"_Well it's never going to happen. You're the only one I'm in love with, so you never have to worry about him or anyone else."_

_Claire went stiff in her arms momentarily before turning to face the brunette and Alice found herself drowning in deep pools of blue. "You're in love with me?" Claire asked with eyes full of hope and the tiniest hint of a grin on her lips._

_The words had fallen out of her mouth before she even knew what she was saying, but Alice realized that made them all the more true. She didn't need to over think anything, it was instinctual. She loved Claire Redfield, she was in love with Claire. She was so in love that nothing had been able to keep her from getting back to the redhead; not Wesker or the undead, or thousands of miles. And nothing would ever keep her from getting back to the redhead if they were separated. Alice didn't know how long she had felt that way, but it didn't matter. All she really needed to do was say the words._

_Alice nodded in response to Claire's question. "I'm in love with you Claire Redfield." She unwrapped her arm from around the redhead and took her hands instead. "You are the strongest, bravest, most amazing person I've ever met. I know I don't deserve you but I'm too selfish to care. I can try to give you everything but the only thing I can promise you is myself."_

_The small grin on Claire's face turned into a broad smile. "I love you too Alice. I don't know how I managed to get so lucky in this life when so many people have lost everything but I'm so glad I have you." _

_Alice was about to protest, insisting she was the lucky one but was cut off by warm lips descending on her own._


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil.**

**AN: **So I feel like such a jerk for taking so long to update this and for that I apologize. But if you're reading this right now I thank you for sticking around.

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><p>"It's been over a month Claire." K-Mart sighed from her seat next to the redhead on the couch.<p>

"I'm aware of how long it's been K." She replied staring into the fire in front of them.

"How much longer do you think they'll be?"

It was Claire's turn to sigh, every night of the last month K-Mart asked her the same question and every night she gave the same answer. "I don't know K. Hopefully they'll be back soon."

"What if something bad happened to them?"

"Not possible." the redhead assured her and the teen looked at her confused. "It's Alice, she's the most capable person I know. She's dealt with more terrible things than you and I will ever have to worry about, a simple scavenging mission like this is a piece of cake for her. So stop worrying, they'll be back soon and we'll have more food and supplies then you've ever seen." Claire also silently reassured herself that if anything had happened to Alice or Chris she would just _know _it in her gut, and right now her gut was telling her they were both safe so it was much easier to reassure the teenager.

K-Mart beamed at the redhead. "You're probably right. I just miss them." She leaned across the couch to rest her head on Claire's shoulder.

Claire raised an eyebrow. "Even Seth?" The blonde hadn't spoken much about the boy since their fight but Claire was certain that Alice and Chris weren't the only ones K-Mart was missing. And while she was much happier with that boy out of K-Mart's life she knew the blonde probably was not as thrilled.

The teen huffed. "Of course I miss him Claire, but don't think that means I'm letting him off the hook. I swear to God if he doesn't make it home alive to apologize to me there's going to be..."

Whatever K-Mart was going to say was cut off by a loud banging on the front door. Claire shot up from the couch and was at the door in seconds, flinging it open she found Mrs. Parker looking hysterical. The redhead almost slammed the door shut again on instinct but refrained from the urge and just hoped that whatever Mrs. Parker needed to tell her was actually of legitimate concern.

"Claire!" the woman gasped. "There's something out there! We heard noises behind the house but didn't see anything."

"Calm down," Claire responded and waited for the woman to take a couple of deep breaths. She didn't add that it was a really stupid idea for the woman to leave the house after hearing strange noises and instead put on her leadership face, ready to tackle this new problem. "What did the noise sound like?"

"Like growling, what if it's one of those things? I thought you said it was safe here!" Her fearful gaze became accusatory. Claire yanked the woman inside the house a little harder than necessary and ushered Mrs. Parker into the living room where K-Mart was still sitting.

"Stay here with K-Mart, I'll be back after I find this thing." She walked over to the corner and pulled her rifle out of an old umbrella stand, then grabbed some bullets from a nearby shelf before pulling her coat on and making her way outside.

K-Mart stopped her on the front porch. "I don't think you should go out there alone if there's something out there Claire."

"Stay inside K, until I know what this thing is I don't want you out here." She knew the teenager could be stubborn so her tone was harsh so there was no mistake. This was an order, not a request. "Wait for me to come back and don't leave the house." And before she could let K-Mart weaken her resolve the redhead turned and walked down the shovelled path out to the street.

Claire walked slowly, listening intently for any sign of the noises Mrs. Parker had described. She had only gotten back on her feet a few days ago after breaking her leg so her steps were a little uneven and when she tried anything faster than a walk there was a distinct limp in every stride. Claire knew this was why K-Mart didn't want her going out alone, she wouldn't be able to run away if there was something dangerous lurking out in the village.

The night air was freezing and Claire regretted not putting on more layers before leaving the house. She knew there would only be a small window of time to find the creature before she froze to death. Halfway down the street she heard the sound of snow crunching. She looked around frantically for the source of the noise and spotted an approaching figure. It was Luther, carrying a shotgun in addition to a hand gun strapped to his side and carrying a lantern held out in front. It was almost funny seeing him all bundled up, especially since she knew how much he hated the snow.

"You heard the noises too?" Claire asked and the man nodded.

"I didn't see anything though, what do you think it is?"

Claire shook her head, "I don't know. We should look behind the houses, that's where Mrs. Parker said the noises were coming from." He nodded again and the pair set off.

After walking around for a while they were just about to give up when Claire heard a noise to her left. She couldn't see anything but definitely heard some kind of growling. She motioned to Luther and pointed in the direction of the sound. They slowly crept forward, guns drawn when Claire spotted the source of the noise, and it definitely was not one of the undead. About twenty feet in front of her was a huge polar bear.

"Should we shoot it?" Luther asked in a whisper when he spotted the bear.

However, the decision was made before Claire could really think about it. The bear looked up at the sound of Luther's voice. It let out an almighty growl and stood up on his hind legs reaching his full height of at least nine feet tall. The bear brought his front paws down hard and Claire had a bad feeling on what was about to happen. The animal let out a final snarl and started to charge at the pair.

Claire brought her rifle up and shot the bear in the middle. It groaned in pain but didn't hit the ground, so she shot it again, but still the bear was charging. The redhead backed away as quickly as she could while trying to reload but the bear was much faster. It was only feet away from her, paw outstretched to swipe at her when she heard the blast of Luther's shotgun, his rounds hitting the bear in the chest and the creature finally fell to the ground, completely unmoving.

The pair approached cautiously, Claire with her gun still pointed at the animal. "Is it dead?" she asked, and Luther gave it a few light kicks to be sure.

"Yep, we got it."

Claire lowered her gun and gave Luther an awkward pat on the back. "Good, thanks for the help, he almost got me." Now that the immediate danger was over it almost pained the redhead to admit that the former basketball star had pretty much just saved her life.

She looked at the creature before shaking her head. "We can decide what to do with it tomorrow, I'm going home to kick Mrs. Parker out of my house and then get some sleep."

"I'll come with, assure the woman everything is alright."

They walked back in silence, Luther was never Claire's favourite person to talk to and after encounters with both a polar bear and the annoying Mrs. Parker, the redhead was in no mood for idle conversation. She appreciated what the man had done for her but as far as she was concerned, a pat on the back was all the thanks he was going to get out of her.

As soon as she walked through the front door Claire was met by K-Mart and Mrs. Parker.

"Did you find it? Did you kill it? Are we still safe?" The older woman questioned before Claire could even take off her coat and set down her gun.

"Yeah, Luther and I got it. There was a bear, huge mother fucker came right at me so we had to shoot it. We'll move the body tomorrow. Don't worry Mrs. Parker there were no undead, we're still safe here." She reassured.

"Thank you Claire!" She threw herself at the redhead grabbing a surprised Claire in a grateful hug and after letting go followed suit with Luther and the redhead was glad to see he looked equally uncomfortable with the gesture. "I'd best be getting home then, my husband is probably worried sick, he told me not to leave. I'm still feeling a little uneasy though so could you walk me home Luther?" Before he could even answer she had his arm in a vice grip, leading him out of the house. And just like that they were out the door, leaving K-Mart and Claire alone in the house again.

"A bear?" K-Mart asked when she and Claire reentered the living room, returning to their original positions on the couch. "What kind of bear?"

"A polar bear, does it really matter what kind it was?"

"You shouldn't have killed it, those are endangered you know."

It took all Claire's remaining patience not to completely lose her shit. "This is the apocalypse K-Mart! We're the endangered ones!" She exclaimed, trying to sound more incredulous than condescending for the sake of the blonde.

It worked. K-Mart looked thoughtful for a moment before laughing lightly. "Oh yeah, well in that case I guess a bear is better than the alternative." She reached over to give Claire an affectionate pat on the arm. "It's really late Claire. You should go to bed, I'll put out the fire."

Claire raised her head from the couch. "How late is it?" She asked, remembering why she and the teen had been sitting on the couch to begin with.

"Almost one thirty in the morning." the blonde replied with a smile as she stood up from the couch and went to put out the fire.

The redhead stood up as well. "Come here." she instructed and when K-Mart was within reach Claire pulled her into a hug. "Happy Birthday K."

K-Mart gave her a squeeze before pulling back. "Thanks. Should be an exciting birthday if it starts out with a bear attack!" she chuckled and Claire joined the laughter a moment later.

It wasn't long after that she wandered off to bed, feeling too cold and too tired from her almost fatal encounter with the wildlife of Alaska to stay awake any longer. Even with the bed all to herself however, Claire stuck to her designated side. She fell asleep with her hand outstretched to the vacant space next to her that she hoped would be filled again by a familiar brunette sooner rather than later.

The redhead awoke after only a few hours of sleep. It'd been like that since Alice had left. For the last month, not once had Claire slept completely through the night. Years of constantly being on the run from the undead and the Umbrella Corporation had got her use to the lack of sleep, but these days waking up alone made for one cranky Claire Redfield.

She rolled onto her side, finding Alice's half of the bed still empty, causing the redhead to sigh audibly. Alice had turned her into such a sap that the sight of their half empty bed was enough to make Claire feel more than just a tinge of sadness. She grabbed the brunette's unused pillow from the headboard and wrapped her arms around it tightly. The action didn't do much to aid the loneliness she felt, it was just a pillow after all but at this point Claire had been willing to try anything.

"Stupid broken leg..." she muttered to herself. "Stupid zombie apocalypse forcing us to live in the middle of Buttfuck Nowhere... how much fucking supplies are they getting anyway?" Claire growled out the words as she rolled over onto her back, staring up at the ceiling with Alice's pillow still tucked securely under her arm.

As frustrated as she was with the current situation, it didn't seem right to be feeling the self pity that was clouding her mind. Things had turned out better for her than most. She was alive, and safe. She had K-Mart, and she had Chris and Alice. Of course, that was under the assumption that her brother and girlfriend were still alive; which deep down she knew they were. Not everyone was as lucky as she was; and that was the thought pushing her to get through each day. She still had a reason to get up every morning. Some of the survivors they found on the _Arcadia_ had been alone for a long time and Claire couldn't imagine being able to get through the last several years without K-Mart and her convoy. Then to find Chris still alive after so long was just crazy.

And then there was Alice. Just thinking about the brunette was enough to cause a small grin to form on the redhead's face, alleviating her grumpiness if only a little. Claire doubted whether or not she ever would have met Alice if not for the outbreak of the t-virus but it was still amazing that despite everything that had happened they were able to find each other. And Claire was confident that no matter how many undead Alice had to fight off while she away, she would still be able to find her way back to Claire.

Sighing again, Claire kicked off the blankets and rolled out of bed. She was now feeling more anxious than frustrated, not knowing how much more waiting she could put up with until Alice and Chris returned. But until then, she still had a few hours before K-Mart awoke in which she needed to come up with a makeshift birthday gift for the blonde. K-Mart was finally eighteen, practically an adult. It was a daunting realization but not so much that the redhead wasn't thankful that she had been able to see the teenager grow up and proud that she was responsible for K-Mart having a future at all. But as she bundled herself up in layers of warm clothes and her eyes once again caught sight of the empty bed, Claire just wished Alice was there beside her to usher the blonde into adulthood.

* * *

><p>"I think that's everything." Chris said stretching his arms above his head after putting the last box in the truck he had commandeered the day before.<p>

He and Alice were leaving Costco, they'd spent two whole days cleaning the store out of anything and everything that was worth taking. Seth had been left on board after their little misadventure at the mall and he hadn't protested, content to sort through their stock pile as best he could and put away all the boxes Chris and Alice brought aboard.

"We're done here? Where do you think we should head next?" Alice asked as she closed the back of the trailer and the pair quickly climbed into the truck, not feeling safe standing out in the open.

"Home." Chris replied casually. "I think we have everything we need, don't you?"

"Are you sure we've got everything we could possibly get?" Alice replied. More than anything she wanted to go home, but the practical side of her didn't want to do a half ass job with this mission and have them stuck in the same situation not too far down the line.

"We did amazing Alice. I'm honestly surprised that we got as much as we did." Chris started the engine and they made their final trip back to the harbor. "I know you want to head back as much as Seth and I do and if I know Claire she's probably ready to kill us for taking this long."

A sad smile crossed Alice's face. She missed Claire more and more with each passing day. She thought it had been bad when she sent the redhead off to Alaska and she stayed behind in the desert, but this time it felt even worse. Maybe it was because they had grown so much closer since then, Alice really couldn't be sure. All she knew was that she'd give just about anything to be with Claire again as soon as possible. She'd been sleeping even less than usual without the familiar warm body of her girlfriend wrapped around her and Alice absolutely hated the loneliness she felt every single night since they'd left. "We've been gone a lot longer than we expected." She didn't voice the guilt plaguing her conscience. Claire probably thought they were dead given how long they'd been away and that thought alone nearly killed her.

"I wish we could just take one of the osprey's on board and fly back, it'd be a lot faster." Chris mentioned as he drove. "But leaving all this stuff behind would defeat the purpose of leaving in the first place, so I guess it's the long way home for us." Even if they left that day it would still take a couple of weeks to sail back up the coast to Alaska.

"Then you'd better drive fast Redfield. I want us far away from this place by sundown." Alice ordered and Chris laughed, nevertheless putting the petal to the metal, speeding them towards the harbour and not giving a fuck how many undead he ran over along the way.

* * *

><p>"I'm bored Claire." K-Mart whined as she and the redhead walked up the street one afternoon.<p>

"You've been saying that for weeks K, go find something to do."

"There's nothing to do around here, at least not while the others are gone. I thought we'd have some excitement with that bear showing up two weeks ago, but it was just a one time thing." She pouted and Claire stopped walking to look at her incredulously.

"You want more bears wandering around here?"

The blonde waived dismissively. "No, I just want a distraction." She gave Claire a sideways glance. "And I know you do too."

"What makes you say that?" Claire asked as the pair began walking again.

"Because every couple of days you and I walk up and down the streets of town for hours, or we go visit Luther at the store, and you don't even like Luther!"

"It's not that I don't like him, we just got off on the wrong foot." She replied but K-Mart wasn't buying it, her look was sceptical. "Ok, I'll admit that there are a lot more people I like better than Luther. But it's kind of hard to keep hating him after he saved me from the bear. Plus, giving him the responsibility of the store has been good for him, and him and Chris taking care of Seth has forced him to grow up. So if I need to distract myself by letting him tell the same stories about his glory days over and over while Alice is gone I'll do it." She sighed, "Are we pathetic? I mean, we're moping around and they've really only been gone..."

"Two months!" K-Mart burst out. "Don't lie to me Claire, it feels like it's been forever and you and I are completely miserable!"

"What happened to us K? We were never this miserable in the desert, we were a couple of bad asses, kicking zombie butt on a daily basis. What changed?"

The blonde looked at her like the redhead had just said the dumbest thing in the world. "Are you serious Claire? You know what changed! Alice came around, turned our already crazy world completely on its head and you loved it. You love her and there's no going back. I won't be mad if you admit that having it be just you and me isn't good enough anymore, cause that's exactly how I feel too."

"Don't you think it's terrible we feel this way?"

"No. It's not that I don't love you Claire, you know I do. I would just..."

"Rather be with Seth." Claire finished with a smug smile.

"And you'd rather be with Alice." She retorted. "I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I think we'd need to be worried if we didn't miss them like crazy."

Claire looked at the blonde for a long moment. "I don't like how much you've grown up."

K-Mart scoffed. "I'm eighteen now. I'm all grown up so you'd better get use to it!" She said with a smile and poking the redhead in the chest.

"That's right, Seth is going to come back to an older woman." Claire teased.

"Shut up."

There banter was stopped when they heard a vehicle coming up behind them. Turning around they spotted a familiar black pickup truck that they had a attached a plough to the front to push away the snow. When it came to a stop they could see it was Luther who was behind the wheel with another man named Johnson in the passenger seat

"Claire! K! You have to come see this!" He called out to them after rolling down the window.

"What is it?" Claire asked.

Luther shook his head. "Just get in the back, you'll see when we get there."

The women shared a look before shrugging and climbing into the back. Luther drove the truck as quickly as possible on the semi ploughed road. Claire and K-Mart felt wind biting their uncovered faces as they sped out of town and towards the water.

"Oh my God Claire! Look!" K-Mart shrieked when the ocean was in sight. She pointed toward the water and Claire could easily see the _Arcadia_ anchored in its usual spot. They could also see Alice, Chris, Seth and Shep speeding toward the shore in the dingy.

Claire jumped out of the truck before Luther had even stopped the vehicle. She half ran, half hobbled to the water's edge, K-Mart on her heels.

"They're back!" K-Mart was completely ecstatic, jumping up and down with energy she hadn't shown in weeks.

"I know K, I see them." Claire was much calmer, but no less excited. She was just happy they were back, and all seemed to be in one piece.

Chris jumped out of the boat first when it neared the shore, and dragged it onto the beach.

"We didn't expect a welcoming party." He said with a smile before pulling his sister into a tight hug. He let her go quickly, knowing she'd want to see Alice and moved on to give K-Mart a hug as well. "Hey K, were you guys ok while we were gone?" She nodded and he gave her a smile before letting her go and he went to talk to Luther, and Shep followed along behind him.

Alice helped pull Seth out of the boat and led him by the arm over to where Claire and K-Mart were standing with Chris. When the man walked away Alice immediately felt familiar arms wrap around her. She clutched Claire to her tightly and they remained locked in a tight embrace for a long time, before she pulled back enough to look her in the eyes.

"Hey" the brunette said softly.

"You're back." Claire whispered. "And you won't need to leave again right?"

Alice shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere without you ever again."

Claire quickly closed the distance between them, kissing the brunette with desire that had been pent up for too long. "Good answer." she mumbled, not pulling away enough for them to speak properly but Alice didn't seem to mind seeing as she just kissed Claire back with equal passion.

They heard a loud thump off to the side and with extreme reluctance they ended the kiss to investigate. Alice chuckled at what she saw but Claire was frowning. On the ground next to them were K-Mart and Seth. It appeared as if the blonde had completely forgotten their fight and had jumped him, knocking the pair to the ground as they kissed.

Claire cleared her throat, but the teens didn't stop. "I think that's enough guys." She said, raising her voice so they would be sure to hear.

K-Mart eventually let Seth go and allowed him to stand. She gave Claire a sheepish smile but shrugged her shoulders. "Come on Seth, let's go; I'm sure you have loads to tell me." She grabbed his hand and the pair walked off back in the direction of the village.

Claire was all set to follow them, but Alice held her back. "Leave them alone Claire."

"That's the last thing I want to do! You saw them just now, acting like that fight between them never happened. God only knows what they're going to get up to!" she struggled, albeit reluctantly to free herself from Alice's grasp.

"It's fine Claire, I talked to him." The redhead stopped her struggle completely.

"You talked to him about what?"

Alice gave the redhead her most endearing smile. "Just trust me on this one."

Claire nodded slowly and forced herself to change the subject. "So, how did the mission go? You guys get everything?"

"Everything." Chris answered as he, Luther and Johnson approached the women. "The three of us are going to start unloading the ship, so if you two want to go home, that's cool."

"I can't just let you guys do all the work." The redhead protested, though her mind was calculating how long it would take them to get back to the house.

Alice spoke up. "It will take a few days to get it all done, we brought a lot of stuff. We can help out tomorrow if it makes you feel better."

"Alright, lets go home. I'm tired, didn't really sleep well when you guys were gone." She tugged Alice's hand and they began the short trek home.

Alice smirked when they were out of earshot of the men. "Not too tired I hope, it has been two months Claire."

"I meant, I was going to be tired, when you and I are finished." She replied, a grin breaking out on her face and her steps becoming quicker.

* * *

><p><strong>There will be more of the AliceClaire reunion in the next chapter.**

**Also, this story will probably be ending soon. ****But**** it will have an open ending in which I could possibly add more chapters at a later time. This story is not really designed to have one set end point and it very well could just go on and on until they all die of old age, but I don't really want to continue it for that long... anyway, there will at least be a few more chapters still to come so stay tuned and thanks for reading.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: Nothing new here, I still don't own Resident Evil.**

**A/N: **I think there might only be one or two chapters left for this story. It was originally planned to be longer but I dropped a few story arcs involving K-Mart due to a lack of interest. But when I finish my other work I may come back to this and add on to it. Who knows?

**A/N2: **I almost made myself nauseous with how sappy the first part of this chapter is, so I hope it's not too unbearable to read.

* * *

><p>Alice collapsed on top of the redhead, panting heavily and completely exhausted.<p>

"Wow" Claire sighed. "Maybe I should let you leave more often if this is how it will be when you come back."

"I try." Alice replied with a smirk before rolling off the redhead and laying on her back.

Claire snuggled into the brunette's side. "I really missed you." She whispered. "You were gone a lot longer than I thought you would be."

"I missed you too." Alice rubbed Claire's back affectionately. "But you didn't doubt whether I would come back did you?"

The redhead squeezed Alice tightly, as if a loss of physical contact would result in her disappearance again. "There was never a doubt in my mind you would be back. K-Mart was a little worried there for a while but you've already proven that there is nothing that can stop you from getting back to me. But that doesn't mean it was easy for me to sit here and wait for you."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I wish things could have been different but it doesn't matter now. I'm back and I won't leave you ever again."

Claire was thoughtful for a while before she spoke. "I like that I'm the only one who gets to see you like this. No one would ever believe how sweet and loving you are, that you like to cuddle and can't sleep properly unless you're wrapped around me."

"You are exactly the same way." Alice countered, moving her hand upwards to thread through long red locks over and over. "I know I wasn't the only one spending the last few months tossing and turning every night trying to fall asleep."

"True." The redhead agreed. "I could almost fall asleep right now, but I just got you back and I don't want this feeling to end yet."

"What feeling?"

"It's more of a combination of feelings really. It's like relief, calmness, and excitement all at once. It's a feeling I get a lot actually. When I see you first thing in the morning, or after hours of us being apart." She shrugged, "I am really bad at explaining this."

Alice shook her head. "I think I know what you mean."

She stopped playing with Claire's hair and bit her lip in contemplation. She couldn't decide if this was the right moment to bring out the small box burning a whole through her bag in the corner of the room. Alice hadn't given it much thought since picking it out in the jewellery store at the mall but now the image kept racing through her mind.

"I got you something." she stated after a long time of comfortable silence between them. It was either now or never and she wanted it to be now.

"Is it cigarettes?" Claire asked, excitement flashing in her eyes. It faded quickly when Alice shook her head.

"Sorry, for some reason I couldn't find any," she pondered. "Hopefully you'll think it's better than cigarettes. Stay right there." Alice instructed, giving Claire a quick kiss before climbing out of bed. She padded across the room to retrieve her bag which had been carelessly discarded on the floors hours ago. Picking it up she returned to the bed, fishing the small square box out she threw the bag back to the floor and faced the redhead.

"So what is it?" Claire asked getting impatient when Alice didn't hand her the box right away.

"Impatient much?" Alice teased. "Fine, just don't get mad because I didn't give you some sappy speech first." Claire just looked at the brunette in confusion. Alice sighed, mentally berating herself for not thinking this whole thing through. She should have consulted K-Mart first and come up with a plan. This might be the most important gift she ever gives the redhead and she had decided to wing it, how stupid was that? But it was too late to back out now, not after Claire had seen the box. "Here," Alice decided to just hope for the best and see how things turn out. "This is for you." She handed the box to Claire and watched as the redhead opened it with wide eyes.

"It's beautiful Alice." Claire whispered staring at the ring for a moment before raising her eyes to the brunette. "But what's it for?"

"Uh, it's for you." Alice answered, not really certain she knew what the redhead was asking.

Claire smiled at her girlfriend's confusion. "That's not what I meant. What does it mean?"

"Whatever you want it to mean." Alice said with a shrug. The brunette was pretty sure this was going badly, she had no idea what she was doing. "What do you want it to mean?" She almost cringed at herself. Here she was giving Claire a ring and then forcing the redhead to decide what it meant.

Claire was silent a moment. "I don't know. Before all of this I never wanted to get married because I never thought I would meet someone as amazing as I am." She said with complete seriousness and Alice just shook her head in amusement, glad that Claire had alleviated some of the tension she felt. "But then the world went to hell and I was all alone. Then there was the convoy and K-Mart, and then I met you." She gave Alice a sincere smile. "I didn't know what to make of you at the time, you were so different and not just because of the things you could do but because of the things that you've seen."

"We've all seen terrible things in this world Claire."

"But not like you, you've been through more than anyone else." She reached across the bed to grab Alice's hand. "But you didn't let those things break you. You wake up everyday and do the best you can to take care of everyone, and take care of me. I know I'm not the easiest person to be around but you don't seem to mind. I love you Alice so if it's alright with you, I'd like to let this ring be an official symbol of my willingness to be tied down to you forever."

"Tied down eh? I think I can agree to that." Alice laughed, the feeling of elation at the redhead's words making her swell with pride. When it came to facing physical danger she may have been the brave one, but when it came to emotions Claire was the one willing to put herself out there and at this moment Alice could not be more grateful for it. "Wait, did we just agree to get married?" She asked, confusion now adding to her mix of emotions.

"I don't want a wedding, do you?" Alice shook her head so Claire continued. "Right so let's just say we're married and be done with it."

Alice barked out a laugh. "Aren't we romantic," her sarcasm didn't seem to affect Claire though.

"I think it's appropriate seeing as it's you and me. Something like this would never fly with K, so I hope you haven't been giving Seth advice on telling K-Mart he's in love with her."

"We did talk about it."

"What? I was just kidding, he's really in love with her?"

"It's not that surprising Claire. K-Mart doesn't have to worry though, I think he'll plan something exceptionally sappy for her."

"Great, more late nights on the couch for me listening to her gush." Claire huffed. "Speaking of K, we'd better go tell her we're married. You know she'll be pissed if she doesn't find out right away."

Claire tried to get out of bed but Alice pulled her right back down. "We can tell her later, after we celebrate."

The redhead chuckled. "Of course, how could I forget the honeymoon?"

* * *

><p>"What the hell is going on here?" Claire yelled and immediately Seth and K-Mart shot up awake.<p>

It was almost dark outside, hours having passed since the teens had retreated to Seth's house to talk and the pair had fallen asleep on the boy's bed. Unfortunately, this was where Claire and Alice had found them when the redhead had finally insisted they leave the house to inform the others of the change in the status of their relationship.

"What's going on?" Seth asked groggily as he pushed himself into a sitting position, K-Mart having already scrambled out of the bed fearing the redhead's wrath.

"That's what I'm waiting to find out." Claire said, crossing her arms and her foot tapping the floor rapidly. Alice was standing next to her, mild amusement apparent on her face.

"Nothing happened Claire." K-Mart assured her.

"I'm supposed to believe you two were just sleeping?"

"I don't think they're lying Claire." Alice commented gently, laying a hand on the redhead's shoulder.

"What makes you so sure?"

Alice smiled at the teens before answering. "Look at them Claire, both of them are fully dressed, plus the door was open." She indicated the doorway she and Claire were currently occupying. "It was open when we got here remember?"

The redhead relaxed her stance, Alice's hand rubbing gently along her back helping to sooth her suspicions. "Seth," the boy immediately launched himself from the bed, almost falling in his haste.

"Yes ma'am."

"Tell me what you two were doing." She instructed, counting on the boy's fear of her to make him tell her the truth.

"We were talking, K-Mart told me you shot a bear.." Alice gave the redhead a sideways glance and Claire just gave her a sheepish smile indicating they would discuss it later. "...and I was telling her about our mission and then I guess we fell asleep."

Claire nodded, finally appeased. "Alright. Well I need both of you to come out to the living room, Alice and I have an announcement." She turned and left the doorway, Alice shrugged at K-Mart and followed the redhead.

Seth let out a deep breath. "Am I safe? Or is it a trick so she can kill me later?"

K-Mart giggled. "Don't be silly, she's not going to hurt you. You told the truth, she knows that; but that's because she knows you would never do something completely stupid like lie to her." She took a step closer and grabbed Seth's hand to pull him from the room. "Come on, let's go hear that announcement."

"Wait," he said as he walked over to the wall where he'd dropped his backpack when they came in. "I have something for you." He searched the bag until he felt the familiar object. "Sorry it's a little late, but I hope you like it." He pulled out a worn copy of _Pride and Prejudice_ and held it out for K-Mart to take.

The blonde took the book out of his hands and turned it over, dragging her eyes over the cover. "It's great, but..."

"But what?" He asked.

"What's it for? Why are you giving this to me?"

"It's both a belated birthday present and an 'I'm sorry for being such an idiot please forgive me' gift." He paused for a moment trying not to mess up his words. "I'm really sorry for the way I behaved before we left. I was selfish and didn't think about your feelings. We didn't talk about our fight earlier but I don't want it hanging in the background of our relationship. I hope you'll forgive me."

"I forgive you Seth, and I'm sorry too. I wasn't exactly fair and you can be friends with Tim if you want. And I'm sorry I didn't say goodbye to you when you guys left. I know I never would have forgiven myself if the last time we talked had been a fight."

"Then let's agree never to fight again."

"Agreed." K-Mart laughed at the improbability of them never fighting again but was more than happy to have their first fight finally behind them.

The couple walked into the living room as Alice and Claire were talking to Chris and Luther. K-Mart pushed Seth over to the only remaining empty chair, she sat him in it, then placed herself in his lap. Seth blushed but didn't protest to the seating arrangement; and when Claire didn't comment he relaxed, wrapping his arms around the blonde.

"So what's going on?" K-Mart asked, her curiosity piqued.

Alice and Claire shared a look, the brunette shrugged leaving it up to Claire on how to tell everyone. After a moment the redhead lifted her left hand, displaying her ring. "Alice and I got married.

K-Mart was out of Seth's lap and throwing herself at the women within seconds. "Oh my God!" She exclaimed wrapping her arms around both of them. "Congratulations! Oh my God! Tell me everything!"

Chris cleared his throat and K-Mart let go of Alice and Claire before returning to sit with Seth. "I'm happy for you both, but" he gave Alice a stern look. "I would have liked if you had asked me if you could marry my sister."

Alice shrugged. "Technically I didn't ask her."

Now Chris' eyes were wide, but his glance was directed at his sister. "Claire? You proposed to Alice?"

Claire shook her head. "No." When she noticed she and Alice were the only ones in the room who weren't confused she elaborated. "Alice gave me this ring, I asked her what it meant and we agreed that we wanted to be together forever, so we're married."

K-Mart planted her hand into her face. "Oh my God!" she huffed in frustration. "You two are ridiculous!" She shook her head. "No romance whatsoever." She looked over at the couple. "So no wedding?" Alice shook her head. "No party?" Claire answered in the negative as well. "You guys suck, the perfect excuse to get dressed up and have a party and you two just want to skip ahead to the boring old married couple routine." She stood up from Seth's lap again. "Let's go Mrs. and Mrs. Boring, it's getting late and I'm still sleepy." She pulled her boyfriend out of the chair and the teens left the room.

"Honestly," K-Mart said as she put her coat on in the hallway. "We could all use some fun around here and they want to keep the celebration to themselves." When Seth didn't reply she looked at him. "Sorry for venting, they just can be so frustrating sometimes."

"It's ok, I don't mind listening to you rant." He gave her a smile. "Will you come over tomorrow? We didn't get much chance to catch up today since we fell asleep."

"Of course. I doubt Alice and Claire will get out of bed all day so I'm all yours tomorrow." She leaned up to give him a kiss goodbye and they stood there kissing until Alice and Claire finally decided to leave.

"Bye Seth." Alice announced as she pulled the redhead out of the house before Claire could make a comment to the couple.

He detached himself from the blonde. "Night K."

"Goodnight Seth." She replied and then followed the other two out into the night.

She traipsed lazily behind them, kicking at the snow as they made their way home. She looked around at what little she could see through the darkness. They should rename the town to 'Buttfuck, Nowhere' cause that was exactly where they lived. It hadn't really bothered her much until this moment as she watched the happy couple holding hands in front of her. Alice and Claire had decided they were married but didn't have a wedding or a celebration or any kind of official proof of their union, and she wondered if that was what her future would look like too.

The blonde could hear Claire whispering to Alice as they walked. "She's being too quiet Alice, I don't like it." The redhead looked behind her at the teen and raised her voice a little. "You're not mad are you K? It's not like Alice and I could have had a real wedding anyway."

"I'm not mad, I'm really happy for you guys." She took a few more steps in silence. "It's just..." the blonde trailed off, not exactly sure how to articulate what she was trying to say. "It kind of bums me that you can't have a real wedding, but it's not just that. Everything that was 'normal' in our lives before is different now. We can't go on vacations or eat at a restaurant. I won't graduate highschool or go to prom or college. I know we're lucky to be alive and I'm happy we're all safe, but it still sucks to think about how everything has changed."

Claire stopped walking, giving K-Mart a chance to catch up and wrapped an arm around the teen. "You're right K, it does suck. I want you to have all those things and it breaks my heart I can't give them to you."

K-Mart looked at the redhead and shook her head. "There isn't anything you could give me that you haven't already; a home, a family..." It pained her to see Claire looking so disappointed with herself. "I know I don't need any of those other things, it's just bumming me out right now. Don't worry Claire, I'm fine." The blonde tried to smile but she knew it didn't reach her eyes and she hoped Claire couldn't tell.

When they got home, the teen retreated to her room on the argument of still being tired and collapsed into bed, hoping to dream of a normal life.

* * *

><p>Early the next morning Claire bolted up in bed, wide awake with a crazy smile plastered across her face.<p>

"I've got it!" she exclaimed. Hearing Alice mumble groggily next to her Claire began to shake the woman until green eyes opened. She lowered her voice from her previously excited tone, knowing it was still early and not wanting to wake up the teenager down the hall. "Alice wake up, I have the perfect idea on how to cheer up K-Mart." Despite the blonde's attempt the previous night to convince her otherwise, Claire knew K-Mart was more upset than she was letting on. And because of a promise she had made to herself in the desert long ago, it was her job to fix it. If K-Mart wanted some semblance of normalcy in her life, than that was exactly what Claire was going to create.

The brunette rubbed a hand over her eyes as she sat up, watching Claire already out of the bed and getting dressed. "Ok, what did you have in mind?"

"I'll tell you later, now get up. We're going to need Chris and Luther's help and we don't have a lot of time." The redhead then began throwing clothes at her new wife, eager to get started on her surprise for the blonde.


End file.
